The PAMA report for October 2024 is out. Surprisingly, every brand has got some good and positive sales including Honda, Suzuki and even United got positive figures in October sales. The only motorcycle brand that didn’t get any positive sales figure is Yamaha and they are the only 2-wheeler brand that got negative sales in the month of October.
This is not the first time that Yamaha is facing the lowest sales trend, in fact it’s one of the least selling motorcycle brands of Pakistan since 2022. Let’s do some analysis and see what’s wrong with Yamaha and why they are failing continuously.
Figures:
| Brand | Sales (July‘23-Oct’23) | Sales (July‘24-Oct’24) | Change in % |
| Yamaha Motorcycles | 3,237 | 1,602 | -50% |
| Brand | Sales (July‘22-June’23) | Sales (July‘23-June’24) | Change in % |
| Yamaha Motorcycles | 13,217 | 6,562 | -50% |
Source: PAMA Report
Overpricing
We all know that Yamaha motorcycles are highly overpriced. They got some guts to charge 480K PKR, a 125cc motorcycle that still uses a carburetor and the same old 1980’s technology. All it has is the looks, otherwise the tech and structure on which this bike is based is outdated.
Carburetor technology that Yamaha is using is from the 80’s, halogen lights are from the 60’s and OHC engine technology is from the early 70’s and every tech that this bike has got is either from 1970’s or late 80’s.
And for that old school bike, they are charging 480K PKR. Of course, the public are not fools, they know which is worth buying and which is simply overpriced.
No New Innovations and Upgrades Since 2016
YBR was introduced in 2016 and people had some expectations from this brand. We all thought that Yamaha would break the monopoly and bring something new to the table. But, reality was entirely different.
They haven’t brought any single new innovation since 2016. All they did in the last 8 years, just new stickers. Even, Atlas Honda does more innovation than Yamaha, like when Atlas brought 5 gears CG, CB150F, CB125F, new engine technology, and some other tiny tweaks, at least Atlas showed that they are active in the market.
Yamaha didn’t even bring a new variant in the whole 8 years. In 2016, you had 4 options, YBR, YBZ YBRG and YBZ DX and after 8 years, you still have only these 4 options to choose from.
No Focus on Marketing and PR
Seems like they don’t have any market research department. It’s because since 2016, all they are doing is just increasing the price, they don’t do any type of marketing, no PRs and they don’t care anything about the marketing and PR.
Just see Atlas Honda, everybody knows about them in Pakistan, but Atlas still spends a heavy budget on their marketing section. You’ll probably see Atlas on billboards, and on every new sticker launch, they do a proper event in which Atlas invites dealers, influencers and media houses.
Whereas, YBR, when they launch a new sticker model, we don’t know when they have launched it, because their marketing and PR is literally dead.
No Market Demand
Till 2016-20, Yamaha was doing great in the market. However, after 2020, things started going down for Yamaha because people started losing interest in these bikes. The cherry on cake was that in 2022, Yamaha increased the pricing of their bikes up to 200%.
All these strategies and economical disturbances ruined the market of YBR. Till date, YBR’s are one of the least selling motorcycle brands in Pakistan.
