KARACHI: Imports of used and new bikes of higher engine power are thriving, official data shows.

Bike imports in July-September amounted to $2.48 million, up almost five times from the same quarter a year ago when their import bill was just $500,000.

Importing used and new bikes cost $2.99m in 2016-17, $2.94m in 2015-16 and $1.74m in 2014-15, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

Stakeholders offer different views about the surging imports of costly bikes.

A leading Japanese bike assembler, who asked not to be named, said the import volume of brand-new bikes for commercial sale is negligible.

He added that his company is importing heavy bikes (250cc, 500cc and 750cc) for the police, traffic police, National Highway Authority (NHA) and other government departments.

Major buyers of heavy bikes include police, NHA, other govt depts

He said the company is bringing in hardly 20-30 units of new bikes (150-500cc) every year for commercial sales. The price of an imported 150cc bike is Rs660,000. A 500cc imported bike carries a price tag of Rs1.25m.

Some used bikes of 250-700cc engine power are also being imported mainly for rich, young customers. Pak Suzuki Motor Company also offers imported brand-new bikes of 250-650cc engine power. Inazuma 250cc, Inazuma Aegis 250cc and Bandit 650cc cost Rs599,000, Rs1m and Rs1.45m, respectively.

Association of Pakistan Motorcycle Assemblers (APMA) Chairman Mohammad Sabir Sheikh said eight to 10 Chinese bike makers are importing Chinese motorcycles of 150cc-250cc engine power.

A few private businessmen have also started importing heavy bikes of various brands in small quantities. These bikes are available for sale on Akbar Road, Karachi’s biggest market for two-wheelers, he said.

Pakistan’s total bike production swelled to 2.41m units in 2016-17 from 2m units in 2015-16, according to the figures released by the Engineering Development Board.

The share of Chinese-assembled bikes in the country’s total production inched up to 1.3m units in 2016-17 from 1.2m units in 2015-16.

The share of Japanese bikes in total production increased to 996,612 units in 2016-17 from 848,001 a year ago due to a positive growth shown by Honda despite stiff competition with Chinese bike assemblers.

Honda rolled out 964,640 units in 2016-17 against 811,044 units a year ago.

Chinese bike maker United Motorcycle notched up the second position by rolling out 326,731 units in 2016-17 versus 262,779 units in 2015-16. Road Prince produced 207,224 units in the last fiscal year against 166,836 units in the preceding 12-month period.

The output of Unique, Super Star and Super Power also rose to 178,256, 117,071 and 111,714 units in 2016-17 from 148,818, 95,698 and 94,358 units, respectively, in the preceding fiscal year.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2017