I just heard a rumor that the government has suspended new registrations of imported bikes. Basically that for now at least, if your bike doesn't have a plate, you're blocked from getting one. Did anyone else hear this and know what's going on?

Not a rumor.

I mentioned in that 2012 CBR thread...if you want a bike at Red Barron, you better go get it now. Things are getting shut down.

I have a bike that has been in progress for a plate for over a year now... I guess it may never happen now :-(

there wil probably always be vehicles with dodgy plates in thailand ,the only thing that wil change is a reshuffle and prices will go up a bit

the people in the industry of taking back handers to make plates for imported bikes are not going to disappear and when they do retire

their prized jobs will be gifted to a relative and as long as their is imported bikes there will be big tea money for acquiring the plates

I mentioned in that 2012 CBR thread...if you want a bike at Red Barron, you better go get it now. Things are getting shut down.

That's not quite accurate- things are not getting "shut down" but they are going to get more expensive... A win for big business and a big loss for consumers

One can only hope that the big manufacturers will step up and fill what is obviously a need for larger bikes by properly imported official ones.

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

Rents and fees seem to be going up under the new government get use to it,

Bad news. I'm guessing this is linked to Honda entering the big bike market and not being happy with importers undercutting them.

government connections of AP Honda shareholders/stakeholders/executives would not surprise ...

I mentioned in that 2012 CBR thread...if you want a bike at Red Barron, you better go get it now. Things are getting shut down.

That's not quite accurate- things are not getting "shut down" but they are going to get more expensive... A win for big business and a big loss for consumers

I meant in the sense that bringing bikes in and getting them reg'd...sure I guess you will be able to go down and buy an overpriced model from the dealer, but limited choices, high prices etc. Oh well, hopefully they find a work around, luckily for some a LOT of cool shit was brought in over the last 12 months.

Someone posted about this on my wife's Facebook page. I searched Google, but couldn't find anything about it. Has anyone been able to confirm this yet? Thanks.

Brian

Someone posted about this on my wife's Facebook page. I searched Google, but couldn't find anything about it. Has anyone been able to confirm this yet? Thanks.

Brian

There's more info over at gt-rider but just someone who knows the owner/staff of RedBaron who can confirm what's been going on. Nothing official but it seems to be happening.

Someone posted about this on my wife's Facebook page. I searched Google, but couldn't find anything about it. Has anyone been able to confirm this yet? Thanks.

Brian

There's more info over at gt-rider but just someone who knows the owner/staff of RedBaron who can confirm what's been going on. Nothing official but it seems to be happening.

Thanks for that. It seems that grey imports will still be able to be registered. As Tony said though, they are going to cost more. I think this is because independent dealers will now have to pay the same full import tax as the Big four's big bike dealerships.

Aren't the majority of grey imports entering as parts and reassembled upon entering Thailand though? Doesn't seem like it would have much affect regarding invoice bikes that havent paid the import tax yet, as most grey imports are.

I guess the premium for current greenbooks have just risen. Same thing happened to guns when they banned new sales, prices went up 2-3 fold for registered ones.

Aren't the majority of grey imports entering as parts and reassembled upon entering Thailand though? Doesn't seem like it would have much affect regarding invoice bikes that havent paid the import tax yet, as most grey imports are.

I guess the premium for current greenbooks have just risen. Same thing happened to guns when they banned new sales, prices went up 2-3 fold for registered ones.

theres piles of gun shops selling new guns in BKK ,some of them have some serious hardware in them ,well over the top for home safety

and those are just the gun shops that are licenced + legal

probably a frightening amount of ex-army and imported weapons in certain peoples homes also

Aren't the majority of grey imports entering as parts and reassembled upon entering Thailand though? Doesn't seem like it would have much affect regarding invoice bikes that havent paid the import tax yet, as most grey imports are.

I guess the premium for current greenbooks have just risen. Same thing happened to guns when they banned new sales, prices went up 2-3 fold for registered ones.

Yes, but are they really fully reassembled or just listed as such? I think this more a case of enforcing existing laws and regulations than anything.

I believe this is just for parts imported bikes. They will still be able to import bikes not available here but will have to pay the full tax for a fully assembled bike.