The Vietnamese motorbike market has experienced a slump since the end of last year and the situation is predicted to be even worse in the coming months.

At the shops along such streets as Ly Tu Trong, An Duong Vuong, Nguyen Tri Phuong, and Phan Dang Luu in HCM City, there are few people coming to buy.

The gloomy situation is blamed for the local saturated market along with the economic downturn.

According to Nguyen Tan Phong, owner of a shop on Nguyen Tri Phuong Street, the situation has been going on since the end of last year. “Our sales have also been down since the beginning of this year and April and May were particularly bad."

The coming rainy season is predicted to be even more difficult.

Many shop owners have said that they tried promotion programmes and discounts to attract customers, but they have not worked.

Many models have been discounted by as much as VND 1 million (USD48) from the sticker price. For example, the PCX is now being sold at about VND 56 million (USD2,683), the Air Blade at VND 37 million (USD1,772) and the Nouvo at VND 34 million (USD1,629).

No better situation for imported vehicles

This is true, not only for vehicles made or assembled in Vietnam, but also for imports. According the General Statistics Office of Vietnam, the number of motorbikes imported in April was just 1,000, a decrease of 4,000 from March. Only 14,000 motorbikes were imported in the first four months of 2012, about a 50% decrease from last year.

Some motorbike shops say that they still have a large stock from 2011 and 2010, and do not plan to make any more purchases.

Tran Huu Thai, the director of a motorbike import company in HCM City said that they have never seen such difficult times in their 10 years of operation. “We are offering discounts of 15%-20% on all models, and at the same time giving higher commissions to our distributors,” Thai said.

An SH, considered a luxurious motorbike, is currently being sold for VND 170 million (USD8,145), a decrease of nearly VND 20 million (USD958) from early 2012. Some other models, like the Air Blade, the PCX, which is imported from Thailand, have also been reduced significantly.