Who is going to pay THB 451,000 for a 650cc bike in a market where the competition has an offer at THB 257,000? You can afford many many liters of petrol with that price gap...

I am a bit surprised as some insiders mentioned a new bike to compete with the Kawasaki Ninja 650 on the Thai market



This post was originally posted as a comment for article The Honda NC700X DCT Available in Thailand

You should not compare the Honda NC700X to what Kawasaki is currently offering in the same engine class (650cc). While the engines are relatively very similar, the transmission, and riding comfort is completely different.

It's like comparing a automatic-transmission-scooter with a gear-transmission-motorcycle, similar as you cannot compare a Honda PCX150i with a Honda CBR150Ri.

Basically the Honda NC700X, with its Dual-Clutch transmission, is a automatic-transmission-motorcycle.

If you compare it with other automatic-two-wheelers available in Thailand, the price of 451,000 THB is not that bad, the Yamaha TMAX XP500 (a twin-parallel-cylinder 500cc) scooter costs 515,000 THB.

Currently, Kawasaki has the advantage of manufacturing it's motorcycles in Thailand and therefore paying less import tax. But Kawasaki has it's limiteds, and it's possible that Honda Thailand waits until the import TAX on motor vehicles between Thailand and Japan is completely gone. (the trade agreement between Japan and Thailand is set to reduce the import tax between the two countries some percentage every year).

It is not so strange that Honda Thailand has started its big-bike adventure in Thailand with so much automatic transmission motorcycles. Honda is targeting car users who want to have an alternative vehicle to commute to work.

Currently in Thailand for every manual transmission car, most car manufacturers, sell 10 cars with an automatic transmission. So, if you want people out of the car and on a motorcycle, you should make it as easy as possible. Learning how to use the clutch and gears is not as easy as some people think. (Especially if you ave for years experienced the joy of an automatic transmission).

Also Yamaha sells, according to some source, more Yamaha TMAX XP500 scooters for the premium price of over 500,000 THB than they sold the Yamaha FZ6 (not available anymore as it's replaced by the Yamaha FZ8).

Quote by: news

You should not compare the Honda NC700X to what Kawasaki is currently offering in the same engine class (650cc). While the engines are relatively very similar, the transmission, and riding comfort is completely different.

It's like comparing a automatic-transmission-scooter with a gear-transmission-motorcycle, similar as you cannot compare a Honda PCX150i with a Honda CBR150Ri.

Basically the Honda NC700X, with its Dual-Clutch transmission, is a automatic-transmission-motorcycle.

If you compare it with other automatic-two-wheelers available in Thailand, the price of 451,000 THB is not that bad, the Yamaha TMAX XP500 (a twin-parallel-cylinder 500cc) scooter costs 515,000 THB.

Currently, Kawasaki has the advantage of manufacturing it's motorcycles in Thailand and therefore paying less import tax. But Kawasaki has it's limiteds, and it's possible that Honda Thailand waits until the import TAX on motor vehicles between Thailand and Japan is completely gone. (the trade agreement between Japan and Thailand is set to reduce the import tax between the two countries some percentage every year).

Compared with the price in Germany, the NC700X cost only 300 Euro = 12.000 Baht more than the CB500X, which costs only 215.000 THB. It's also 1000 Euro cheaper in Germany than the Kawasaki ER6N. Therefore the NC700X is much overpriced in Thailand.

The Honda NC700X is an imported motorcycle and therefore is subject to the extremely high Thai import duty and taxes. The import duty and taxes can sometimes make a motorcycle almost twice as expensive in Thailand than what you see in Western countries.