Yamaha Motor To Launch Motorcycle Manufacturing And Sales In The Philippines

Although the American motorcycle market is slightly cooling these days, things are hotter in the Philippines. Yamaha has broken ground for a new factory to serve a strong domestic marketplace where they boast a motorcycle-user ratio of one motorcycle per every 40 people.

Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. will begin manufacturing and selling motorcycles through a 100% wholly-owned subsidiary in the Philippines. In addition, the company has also secured land in Lipa City in the Philippine province of Batangas for the construction of a new plant with scheduled operational startup in early 2009.

Yamaha Motor Philippines, Inc., the company that will manufacture and sell Yamaha Motor motorcycles in the Philippines, was established in May 2007. From the end of September 2007, YMPH will be responsible for the final assembly of 105cc~135cc displacement motorcycles at an assembly plant located in the Laguna Industrial Park, and will begin domestic sales through dealers. Approximately 120 personnel will be employed at the new company at the time of operational startup, and the capital investment will amount to a total of 550 million pesos (approximately 1.4 billion yen). The projected production and sales volume for 2008, when the plant is in full operation, is 70,000 units.

Meanwhile, Yamaha Motor also secured a new, 230,000m2 building site at the Lima Industrial Park located in Lipa City in the Philippine province of Batangas, approximately 75km south of Manila, and is moving forward with plans to construct a new motorcycle production plant with operational startup targeted for the early part of 2009.

Details concerning production capacity, production models, and capital investment for the new plant are currently being considered. However, upon completion, the new plant will serve as the base for motorcycle production with a scale larger than the assembly plant located in the Laguna Industrial Park, and will replace the Laguna plant.

The motorcycle market in the Philippines is demonstrating an upward trend year by year due in part to the steady performance of the domestic economy. In 2006, the market scale reached 620,000 motorcycles for a 6% increase compared to the previous year. Furthermore, with a motorcycle-user ratio of one motorcycle per every 40 people, continuous growth is expected in the future.

Yamaha Motor signed a distribution agreement with Norkis Trading Co., Inc. of the Philippines in 1962, and since then, Yamaha Motor motorcycles have been assembled and distributed in the Philippines by Norkis. With the expansion in the motorcycle market, Yamaha Motor is securing its position in the market by establishing a 100% Yamaha Motor-owned subsidiary that can swiftly deal with changes in the market while establishing its brand image and promoting high value-added strategies.