Indonesia’s Sales Results of Motorcycles in 2023

In 2023, Indonesia’s motorcycle sales increased by 19.4% year-on-year to 6,236,992 units. Sales continued to decline year-on-year for seven consecutive months from September 2023 to March 2024, but the Ramadan season, when consumption increases, started earlier than last year, resulting in an 18.3% increase in April compared to last year.

In Indonesia, when commodity prices such as those of palm oil and coal, which are major export items, rise, the current account balance becomes surplus and the domestic economy gains strength, so demand for motorcycles tends to increase. As a result, demand for motorcycles rapidly recovered from August 2022 until the first half of 2023, when commodity prices skyrocketed. However, the economy went into recession as commodity prices fell from April 2023, motorcycle sales falling below the same month last year from September. In April 2024, as the currency depreciated, the policy interest rate was raised by 0.25 points to 6.25%.

Looking at sales trends by manufacturer, Honda, Indonesia’s top motorcycle maker, sold 4.88 million units in 2023, an increase of 22.1% from the previous year, raising its market share by 1.7 points to 78.2%. However, in the first quarter of 2024, Honda’s sales decreased by 8% year-on-year to 1.32 million units, and its market share fell to 76.3%. On the other hand, Yamaha, whose market share had dropped by 1.2 points year-on-year to 20.9% in 2023, launched the LEXi LX155 in January 2024, and it appears to have increased its market share by around 1.0 point in the first three months of 2024. Although the difference in market share between Honda and Yamaha is large, the two companies are in fierce sales competition as they account for 99% of Indonesian motorcycle sales. Honda is releasing the fully remodeled mass-market scooter BeAT in June 2024, and Yamaha is also planning to launch its top-selling model NMAX, after undergoing full model change, by the end of the year. There is a possibility that demand will be stimulated in the second half of the year by the newly released mass-market models of both companies, but if interest rates continue to rise due to currency depreciation, purchase appetite for motorcycles could decline.