Philippine motorcycle sales posted a 16.7 percent increase based on a monthly average of 149,000 units in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the monthly average sales of 127,000 in 2022, the Motorcycle Development Program Participants Association, Inc. (MDPPA) announced Thursday.
MDPPA president Boying Mojica said the group is hoping that sales in 2023 will surpass the pre-pandemic sales of 1.7 million in 2019.
“We hope that the performance of the first quarter will be sustained. The market is so volatile as influenced by internal and external variables. Our conservative forecast this year is 10 percent growth, in light of the headwinds of imminent recession in the US and other regions,” said Monica.
Greater mobility and affordability are the factors that continue to drive this increase in motorcycle sales. The group, composed of the country’s biggest motorcycle brands, reported sales hitting 447,429 units in the first quarter of 2023, which is 3,500 shy from total 2019 sales of 451,103 units.
Based on the report, the automatic category or scooters accounted for 60 percent of first-quarter sales this year with 269,652 units sold. This was followed by the business units at 28.6 percent or 83,616 units sold. Business units are usually used for commercial purposes.
Meanwhile, mopeds or underbone motorcycles took 17.2 percent of the total sales due to their affordability, with 77,152 units sold. The street and big bikes, commonly used for leisure and off-road adventure, account for 4 percent with 17,000 units sold.
MDPPA is the country’s biggest group of motorcycle manufacturers in terms of volume. The industry’s major players – Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha are the only members of the group.