Honda 250+ Are Coming To Los For Sure, Right!

[road2dharma]

Aug 6 (Reuters) - Honda Motor Co, the world's top motorcycle maker, plans to import Thailand-made bikes to sell in Japan, where production costs are rising, the Nikkei business daily reported.

From next year, Honda is likely to start shipping 250cc engine bikes from Thailand, where the automaker produces three times as many motorcycles as in Japan, the paper said.

Honda is considering to sell the imported 250cc motorbikes for about 400,000 yen ($4,220), less than the 550,000 yen price for the Japan-made ones, the paper said. In February, Honda had told Reuters that it would look to cut costs by building vehicles more efficiently and cheaply.

The strategy put forth at the time was to produce most of the parts for high-volume, 100-125cc commuter bikes in just three countries and ship them to assembly sites around the world such as those in Brazil, China, India, Thailand and Japan.

The motorbikes produced in Thailand center on 100cc models, and Honda plans to broaden its midsize offerings there, the Nikkei reported.

>>> Now if they can sell them in Japan for 400,000 Yen they should sell a 2009/10 VTR250 here for 100-120k baht brand new right Maybe plenty of takers, watch out Kawasaki.

[dave_boo]

So they're going to offer the bike for 400 000 JPY. I.E., ~143 000 THB...based on an engine manufactured in Thailand and then imported into Japan. I don't see the announcement that the whole of the bike will be manufactured here. However, pricewise it's very competitive with the Kawasaki offerings. Doesn't really match up with either, the KLX/D-Tracker is more off road and the Ninja is obviously a sporty bike....none-the-less, it seems to compare fairly well to the Ninja 250 with better ergos and a nicer in-town presence.

**edit**

I'm stupid.

Edited August 7, 2009 by dave_boo

[road2dharma]

"....and Honda plans to broaden its midsize offerings there, the Nikkei reported"

Sounds like a strongish hint of production in Thailand for the Thai market, as long as you assume "there" refers to Thailand. I don't see why if they can produce the new (& presumably FI) engines here, they can't bolt it together with a bunch of other parts easily enough.

I think they could slash some off that circa 143,000 figure too, given shipping costs and other savings compared to sale on the Japanese market. As to whether they will, they should maybe take a hint from Kawa and price a bit lower to capture the market. I know its not Honda style, but.... here's to hoping.

Wish they'd get a move on though....

[dave_boo]

I could be way out in left field here, but I doubt that a country that has bikes that top out at 1400cc would consider a 250 a 'midsize' bike. Understandable that Thailand, which has few 600+ plus bikes, and even fewer 1000cc (legal) would consider a 250 a midsize, but somehow it seems to me that is not the intention of the report. Of course I've been wrong before.....

The Reuters story does say that, contrary to my previous reading, Honda is likely to start manufacturing the whole bike in Thailand. They are already manufacturing fuel injection and other components here so who knows.

[Bard]

Sorry to disappoint anyone but the Honda Big Bike site still state "Coming Soon" on products, so there is still no sign of Honda officially start selling big bikes. Suzuki has started tho and you find them on there website. So hopefully Honda will get the finger out and start selling soon in Thailand as well, lot of people are waiting for it, expect Yamaha and Suzuki price levels tho, as they will loose face selling lower than them, leaving reasonable bikes entirely to Kawasaki I can imagine.

[PeaceBlondie]

Sounds like an indefinite rumor of a possible maybe.

[LivinLOS]

And people seem to be forgetting that if produced in the BOI bonded zone they might still have to pay import duties in full to sell incountry.. So that 149 baht price might need + major %..

Leaves more questions than it gives answers IMO.