Indonesia’s Motorcycle Sales Remain Robust in 2019, Going Up an Additional 1.6%

Indonesia’s motorcycle sales (total sales of five AISI members) fell 41.6% year-on-year to 1.88 million units in the first six months of 2020. The market has shrunk significantly due to the suspension of production and sales activities implemented as a measure to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, and the subsequent stricter examination of motorcycle loans. The Indonesian motorcycle market recovered for two consecutive years in 2018 and 2019, but AISI (Indonesian Motorcycle Industry Association) forecast in July 2020 that it may shrink to 3.9 million units in 2020, a decrease of 40% from the previous year.

Looking at sales data by motorcycle type, the share of scooters continues to rise. In 2019, scooter sales increased 4.7% to 5.65 million units. While underbone and sports types declined scooters increased, raising their market share 2.6pp to 87.2%. Honda remains the top motorcycle maker of Indonesia. Honda's motorcycle share has continued to rise since the first half of the 2010s, expanding to 75.7% in 2019 and to 77.4% in the first half of 2020. In order to solidify this dominant market share, Honda introduced the new eSAF (enhanced Smart Architecture Frame) frame which was developed as a common platform for commuter models and was launched in the Indonesian market ahead of the rest of the world in 2019. By using high-tensile steel press materials, introducing technologies such as laser welding, and optimizing the cross-sectional shape, Honda has achieved a weight reduction of 8% or more while increasing rigidity compared to conventional pipe frames of the same class. The new scooter Genio, launched in June 2019, was the first to adopt it followed by the new BeAT, released in January 2020. Indonesia’s motorcycle exports have been on the rise in recent years. In 2019, motorcycle exports (CBUs only) increased 29.2% to 810,000 units. In particular, Honda’s exports increased 66.1% to 302,000 units.