Benelli Keeway Thailand, an assembler of Italian and Chinese motorcycles, remains optimistic about its sales prospects during 2018-19, especially for big bikes in Thailand, after keeping a low profile for seven years.
According to managing director Tanachart Tanadamrongsak, the company is keen on Italy's Benelli brand, which has demonstrated competitiveness in the local market.
The local company began distributing Benelli in 2011 and is authorised as the assembler by the Chinese owner of the brand, Qjian Jiang Group.
Benelli Keeway Thailand runs an assembly plant at Gateway Industrial Estate in Chachoengsao province with an annual capacity of 15,000 motorcycles.
The facility is also the site for assembling Dongfeng small trucks, an operation overseen by Pitaya Tanadamrongsak, Mr Tanachart's younger brother.
Benelli motorcycles have seen sharp sales growth with 220 units sold in 2014, 2,582 in 2015, 3,912 in 2016 and 4,240 in 2017, according to the Land Transport Department.
But the overall motorcycle market shrank in the first half of 2018 with 934,747 units sold, down 1.6% from the same period last year.
Mr Tanachart said Benelli's full-year sales forecast of 3,900 units represents an 8% decline from last year's figure. Benelli sold 1,576 motorcycles in the first half, down 41.6% year-on-year.
"In 2019, we expect aggressive growth of 15,000 units sold, covering mid-size motorcycles and big bikes," Mr Tanachart said. "Most of our sales are driven by the big-bike segment with an engine size above 400cc, and we have a plan to launch new models during 2018-19."
Of total sales during January to June, Benelli sold 675 big bikes. Meanwhile, the overall big-bike market stood at 16,403 units in the same period. The Benelli brand ranked eighth with a 4.1% market share.
Mr Tanachart expects Benelli big bikes to reach 3,000 units sold by 2018.
"We will remain upbeat on the big-bike market in the second half because there are three new models to be launched, while Benelli will have eight more new motorcycles in the launching pipeline next year," he said. "So Benelli has a remainder target of 2,400 big bikes, and we are confident of reaching our sales expectation."
Mr Tanachart said the company has an ambitious goal to move up the ranking in the big-bike segment to third place by market share in 2019.
Benelli will have to attain at least an 8% market share to meet the goal, he said.
"We run our own assembly facility with 40% local parts and plan to open 11 new showrooms and service centres in 2018, making for a total of 34 locations across 28 provinces," Mr Tanachart said.
The big-bike segment in Thailand has seen sharp growth since 2012, when sales shot up 130% to 6,278 units before climbing 114% to 13,430 units in 2013.
The market grew at a slower pace of 24.4% with 16,712 units sold in 2014 and 21.7% with 20,336 units sold in 2015.
In 2016, the 24,880 big bikes were sold in Thailand, up 22.3%. The market's growth continued in 2017, up 19% at 29,600 units sold.
AP Honda, a local distributor of Japanese-brand motorcycles, forecasts the big-bike segment to grow by 16.6% to 34,500 motorcycles sold in 2018.
