Vietnam has the highest proportion of motorbikes and mopeds among all passenger vehicles in Southeast Asia, making up 96 percent of the total vehicle share, according to research by Bain & Company, GenZero, Standard Chartered Bank, and Temasek.

Cars represent the remaining four percent.

The research done in six Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia, shows that most residents in these countries prefer two-wheeled vehicles to four-wheelers.

Indonesia holds a motorbike share of 88 percent, followed by Thailand with 69 percent and the Philippines with 63 percent.

Meanwhile, people in Malaysia and Singapore prefer cars to motorbikes and mopeds.

Despite the popularity of motorbikes in Southeast Asia, the motorbike sales industry is facing myriad challenges.

Motorbike sales in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand reached 2.7 million units in the first quarter of this year, declining 7.5 percent year on year, according to the Association of Southeast Asian Automobile Manufacturers Association.

Singapore was the only country in the region to record an increase in motorbike sales during the period with more than 3,000 units sold, inching up 8.5 percent.

In Vietnam, five members of the Vietnam Association of Motorcycle Manufacturer, namely Honda Vietnam, Piaggio Vietnam, Suzuki Vietnam, SYM Vietnam, and Yamaha Motor Vietnam, sold over 603,000 vehicles in the first quarter, down nearly five percent against the year-ago period.

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