Bangkok Motorshow Dec.2012

[Franz]

Went to see the Motorshow at Mueang Thong Thani last week and was quite dissapointed on what was on exhibition there.
There were only Triumph, Kawasaki, Ducati, Honda and an importer of several brands present.
As for accessoiries for bikers, there was not even one shop. Only these waxier than waxed, shinier than shiny and whiter than white rubbish.
Car companies were there but I do not want to contribute to more traffic jams anyway.
I started with Ducati, only news there was the Monster 795 ABS and a special black version of this nice bike. No 820 series bikes, no Hypermotard and quite arrogant unfriendly sales people. I am considering selling the DR650 and getting a new 2 cylinder bike, just the attitude of the sales guys puts Duc now on my "no" list.
One foto of the black version 795, I personally find the red one more beautiful.

My next stop was Kawasaki, well good information and friendly staff as always but no real new bike there, so no foto.

Then as the CB500's are already on sale to Honda, found the "X" version and was a happy visitor only to be told that one is not allowed to sit on it but the guy asked me to try the naked one, told him if I buy a Honda it will be an X, he told me same-same, I replied, no not same, he might not have known it as he might have been selling PVC bags before.....so that did not help a positive decision there either. Had some 25k B in my pocket for any downpayment and reservation but this will not happen with Honda either. By the way, on closer inspection, parts of this bike are quite similar to the CBR250R we had at our place before, flimsy windscreen and not much confidence inspiring other parts and painting but you can't fault them for that price; but it's of course not the Honda-Quality we were used too from earlier days........that's already a myth now.
Some fotos of the "X":

Quite a nice bike but not test sitting on it and no reservations there, that's a skip for me too........

Finally then went to the 'import whatever we can shop' where some Kheeway, Benelli China crap and the only reliable scooter from Taiwan were displayed.
On closer look at the Benelli's one can easily see that it's nothing to do with italian craftmanship anymore but cheap quick chinese assembly. Sidecovers loose with different gaps between the fairings, bolts that will rust once first time wet,.......
Benelli something 600 "TRE" (tre should stand for 3 cylinders but actually the engine is a rip-off of the R6 with not even close to the performance the original has and of course 4 cylinders):

And the 900 with a 3 cylinder engine (that bike looked really faulty on all parts):

The only bike at this stand that caught really my attention was again the SYM Max400i scooter which was selling quite good in Europe as it uses an older generation Honda engine and is actually made in Taiwan. Would be the only product from China-Taiwan-Korea I would actually consider but right now I don't need a bigger scoot.

I was disappointed not to have BMW, MV-Agusta, KTM, Suzuki or Yamaha there and of course no small shopping either as non of the biggies in accessoiries were present. So next year I'm looking forward to the BKK-Motorbike Festival at Central World as this one is in my opinion the real bike show in town.
Neither could I get rid of my deposit money or personal copies at nothing really got me going to part with it.

Some money spent for travelling but none on any bike which was actually my intention, so that decision will have to wait.......cheers, Franz

Edited: For Ian, I've got the brochure of the ATV GOES625 with me also a namecard and price, will drop in for a brekkie in the next days, taken also some fotos but they are as above not the best quality as taken with my old Nokia........

 

[Ian Bungy]

Thanks for the Update Franz. I just saw the Sales States for the Show which they are Claiming to Be a Massive Success!
They also Claim Suzuki Sold 319 Big Bikes? See You soon.

Motor Expo sets new records
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- This year's Thailand International Motor Expo saw a historic high of 85,904 orders placed before the government's first-car incentive expires at the end of the month.

"This year's show was a great success as expected, and there were 1,650,124 visitors, an increase of 25.6 per cent over last year," Kwanchai Paphatphong, chairman of Inter Media Consultants, the organiser of the event, said yesterday.

Three-quarters of the orders were made to take advantage of the excise-tax rebate of up to Bt100,000, depending on the model, under the first-car-buyer programme.

Passenger cars accounted for 74 per cent of all orders, followed by 1-tonne pickup trucks with 14 per cent and other types of vehicles with 12 per cent. The most popular models were the Honda City, Suzuki Swift and Nissan Almera.

About Bt76 billion was circulated during the annual show of cars, motorcycles and accessories.

About 50,000 orders had been estimated for new automobiles, but actual demand turned out stronger than that. Besides setting numerous sales records this year, Japanese auto-maker Honda also beat the Motor Expo's perennial champion Toyota for the first time. Honda's booth, which highlighted the recently launched Brio Amaze eco-car, took 19,299 bookings versus Toyota's 18,878 orders.

Nissan, banking heavily on its eco-cars - the March and Almera - came in third with 8,819 orders, followed by pickup specialist Isuzu with 6,448 orders.

Mazda was fifth with 6,155 orders and continues to enjoy dramatic growth in the market this year.

Large motorcycles were also a hit, with 1,805 units sold. Kawasaki led with 498, followed by Honda with 431 orders and Suzuki with 319.

 

[Franz]

Hi Ian, as for cars that might be true but one should be careful about these easily doctored news as there is a bigger, better motorshow every year at the Bitec on BangNa-Trat Road. As for bigbikes, I did not see any Suzuki's and I doubt very much that they even sold one bigbike as they have only the old Busa and the 1000 Gixxer on sale for a premium price of course, maybe they meant Ducati........cheers, FR

 

[TonyBKK]

That's pretty weird since Suzuki didn't even have a bike display at this motor show and they only sell two big bikes in Thailand, the GSXR1000 and Hayabusa at grossly inflated prices... Most Thais get their Busas and Gixxers from 59Bike and Red Baron.

Typical crappy Thai reporting methinks... Perhaps they were talking about Suzuki cars??

 

[monsterman]

I dont believe the car sales figures either complete pie in the sky , My wife and I ordered an new 4 door Ford Ranger at the bangkok show last year , paid deposit signed delivery forms ,with dealer in January 2012 , still no sign of the vehicle 1 year later ?????????just bullshit excuses , we have cancelled order now and got deposit back

 

[yankee99]

@franz

Not sure what happend at the ducati dealership? I was at their booth and they went out of their way to help me. They do not speak mich english but i saw no faults with their sales staff.

@tony bkk

Suzuki did indeed have a display although it consisted of two bikes and the gsxr was a old model that was sold already. They were not taking orders for bikes because they didnt seem to know what was coming for 2013. This was the way i interpeted it.

 

[Franz]

@ yankee99
I do communicate in fluent Thai and with some sales stuff that doesn't go down too well not only with bikes.
Didn't see the two Suzooks, must have been hidden behind their cars or so, anyway they would not have aroused my interest.
Just wonder what has happened with the V-Strom650 and the RMZ250 they had on display at the BKK Motorbike festival earlier this year. Asking them at the Central-World, I was told that the V will be a go, remember they also told me about a proposed sales price by then. If their intention to bring in biggies is as active as their website then we might see another Suzook within the next 10 years maybe. Talk was then also about the small 250 B-King rip-off, nothing there too so far. Cheers, Franz