Motorcycle sales exceed 2012 total in nine months

 

Motorcycle taxi operators wait for customers. Bodabodas have become a popular mode of public transport due to their ability to beat traffic jams. FILE 

By CHARLES MWANIKI

In Summary

• There were 109,153 motorcycle registrations between January and September 2013, about 47 per cent more than the 74,128 units registered by the third quarter of last year.
• Motorcycle registrations for the whole of 2011 stood at 140,215 units, before falling to 93,970 in 2012.

New motorcycle registrations went up by more than 35,000 units in the first nine months of 2013, reversing a slump in sales recorded last year.

Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows there were 109,153 motorcycle registrations between January and September 2013, about 47 per cent more than the 74,128 units registered by the third quarter of last year.

Motorcycle registrations for the whole of 2011 stood at 140,215 units, before falling to 93,970 in 2012.

The rise in registrations has gone up at a time when motorcycle manufacturers have moved to set up local assemblies to secure larger market shares through lowering costs.

Jerry Midiwo, an executive at Honda Motorcycle Kenya, which started selling motorcycles from its local assembly line two weeks ago, expects the trend to continue.

“The Kenyan market for motorcycles remains favourable and sales projections are good. The stay on the removal of the tax waiver will also be of help,” said Mr Midiwo in an interview on Thursday.

Motorcycles, commonly referred to as bodabodas, have become a popular mode of public transport both in rural and urban areas due to their ability to beat traffic jams and to traverse areas that would otherwise be non-accessible by four-wheel vehicles.

Sales of motorcycles had been expected to slow following a gazette notice published on July 1 by the East African Community partner states to remove the 15 per cent waiver on imported bike parts, commonly known as completely knocked down kits (CKD).

This waiver had been put in place to encourage local assembly of bikes to save foreign exchange and create jobs.

Commerce secretary Phyllis Kandie, however, secured a deferral of the implementation of the gazette notice at the beginning of September, thus sparing local assemblers from higher costs.

Under the terms of the deferred notice, the waiver would only have been applicable to assemblers who sourced their materials from within EAC.

The assemblers had expressed concerns over the quality of parts from the region, preferring instead to continue importing from abroad.

Honda Motor Company this year set up a local subsidiary to assemble motorcycles in Nairobi, with an initial production capacity of 25,000 units per year. This is the company’s third African subsidiary after South Africa and Nigeria.

The Japanese firm holds 90 per cent of the plant, with environmentalist Isaac Kalua owning the remaining 10 per cent.

Car and General also started local assembly of motorcycles in Kenya in July when it unveiled an assembly plant in Nakuru. The plant has an initial production capacity of 240 motorcycles per day or 70,000 units per year.