Is Yamaha struggling to sell motorcycles?

The company has provided zero percent markup payment plan after increasing their prices five times in 2022

LAHORE: Yamaha Motor Pakistan has introduced a limited time offer whereby customers will be able to purchase their motorcycle of choice on a four-month payment plan with zero markup. 

Speaking to authorized dealers where this offer is applicable, Profit found that customers can avail the plan by making a down payment of 50 per cent for their model of choice and pay the outstanding amount over four monthly instalments. The estimated time for the customer to receive the motorcycle is two days, whilst the dealers also promise to assist in the entire registration process. 

Whilst initiatives like this are always beneficial to customers, companies are unlikely to be doing this from the goodness of their heart. Yamaha is also famously known for introducing on-payments to the motorcycle industry as well. Thus, immediate delivery with no additional profit beyond the ex-factory price is odd. Profit speculates that Yamaha introduced this initiative as a means to spur sales which have been lackluster this fiscal year. 

Yamaha sold 1,261 motorcycles in July and 1,242 motorcycles in August according to the data they have released to the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA). These figures amount to a month-on-month (MoM) decrease of 30 per cent and 2 per cent respectively. 

However, what is more shocking is that by looking at Yamaha’s figures for July and August 2021, these figures represent a 22 per cent and 48 per cent decrease in sales year-on-year (YoY). The July and August figures also represent a 35 per cent and 36 per cent decrease from the average monthly sales of 1,941 across FY 2021-22. 

One of the authorized dealers in conversation with Profit stated that the offer was an attempt by Yamaha to facilitate customers amidst the high prices. Yamaha has previously introduced five price increases across 2022. The price increases are as follows: 

The price increases have, per the PAMA sales figures released by Yamaha, dented sales. Yamaha’s sales volume for the first half of FY 2021-22 from July 2021 to December 2021 stood at 12,193 units in comparison to 11,096 units for the remainder from January 2022 till June 2022. This discrepancy in sales also translates to Yamaha achieving an average 36 per cent M-o-M increase in sales across the first half FY 2021-22 in comparison to an average of 2.41 per cent M-o-M decrease in sales in the second half of the FY 2021-22. 

Daniyal Ahmad
Daniyal Ahmad
The author is a member of the staff, and covers the automobile, energy and advertising insdusties as a sector analyst. He can be reached at [email protected]

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