Scooter market heating up, manufacturers competing fiercely

Residents in urban areas now prefer scooters to regular motorbikes, which has raised stiff competition among manufacturers to make products to meet the tastes of consumers.

There are different market segments that target different classes of customers. In high class products, priced at 50 million dong and more, Honda and Piaggio are now the two biggest rivals. Other manufacturers also provide high class scooters, but the products are imports, such as the PCX 125 imported from Thailand which is now selling at nearly 70 million dong.

Three big names in scooters, Honda, Yamaha and Piaggio, are the most well known. Meanwhile, other brands such SYM, Suzuki, Hoa Lam-Kymco cannot hold a controlling market share in all the market segments.

Medium class products prove to be the best sellers now. Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kymko, SYM have launched new versions priced 20 million to 40 million dong. Honda has been well known for AirBlade, Lead, Click, while Yamaha has Nouvo, Cuxi, Luvias, Mio, and Suzuki has Hayate, Sky Drive, and SYM has been still focusing on Attila brand scooters, which were once the best sellers in Vietnam. Most recently, the manufacturer has marketed Shack 124 which has a price of 44 million dong.

Manufacturers now target women and nowadays they have more choices. With Honda, women can choose Click or Lead, with Yamaha, they can choose Mio or Cuxi, while Suzuki offers Ski Driver. Especially, the Italian brand Piaggio has even launched pink Piaggio scooters to attract female customers.

A lot of scooters with pink and yellow colours with beautiful patterns have been churned out recently, showing manufacturers’ efforts to appeal to women.

The market segment of products for women can be divided into subgroups. For example, there are products reserved for office workers. Women with a small stature and average income, can choose the smaller products with ‘soft prices,’ such as Click of Honda, Mio of Yamaha, or Zip of Piaggio.

Manufacturers recently have launched the advertisement campaigns aiming to attract young people as well. Honda Vietnam, for example, has kicked off the campaign called “BeU”, while Piaggio has designed the playing field “Bee Team”, and Yamaha is now the sole supporter for “Ngoi sao tuoi teen 2010” (2010 teenage stars) program.