Motorcycle ownership jumps 125 percent in seven years

Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 04/23/2008 1:07 AM

Traffic, fuel prices, loan availability and advertising have all played a role in boosting motorcycle ownership by 125 percent in the past seven years, a survey has found.

The survey by Nielsen Media Research Indonesia shows motorcycle ownership jumped from 10.5 million in 2000 to 23.7 million by the end of last year.

Nielsen associate producer Ika Jatmikasari told reporters Tuesday the trend of motorcycle ownership was also steadily increasing as car users have turned to motorcycles to deal with increasing rush-hour congestion in major cities.

"This is also partly due to flexibility offered to the public by leasing companies. Now, with only Rp 500,000 (US$54), you can bring home a motorcycle," Ika said.

In the first quarter of this year, 59 percent of the population in nine big cities in Indonesia, some 25 million people, used motorcycles as their means of transportation.

Cities with the biggest increase in motorcycle ownership include Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi with a 36.5 percent increase since 2005, while Jakarta, Bandung, Palembang and Makassar jumped by more than 30 percent in four years.

Bali capital Denpasar was found to be the city with the most motorcycles per capita, followed by Java cities Yogyakarta, Sleman, Bantul, Surabaya and Semarang.

The common assumption that the majority of motorcycles are owned by the middle class is shown to be incorrect in the survey, which says motorcycle ownership has increased in all economic classes, particularly among those in the highest monthly spending bracket of more than Rp 3.5 million.

Motorcycles are owned by 85 percent of those in the top spending bracket, 77 percent in the Rp 1.75 million to Rp 2.50 million spending bracket, 60 percent in the Rp 900,000 to Rp 1.25 million bracket and about 43 percent in the Rp 600,000 to Rp 900,000 bracket.

"This trend is expected to continue in the future as fuel prices increase and people realize it is cheaper to use motorcycles than cars for daily activities," Ika said.

Nielsen also shows motorcycle manufacturers' spending on advertising jumped 900 percent from Rp 145 billion in 2000 to Rp 1.46 trillion in 2007.

The year-on-year figures within the period consistently increased, with newspaper ads slightly higher than television.

Honda is the market leader and the biggest spender, accounting for 63 percent of the total spending in 2007, while Yamaha is second at 30 percent, followed by Suzuki, Vespa and Kawasaki at 20 percent, 4 percent and 2 percent.

The data for advertising spending was calculated based on gross commercial rate excluding discounts and promotions.