Smuggled electric bicycles, bicycle components dominate market

ABO/VNA - About 700,000 electric bicycles and 50 cc motorbikes are sold every year, but analysts believe the real figure is actually 1 million.
Electric motorbikes and bicycles have become increasingly popular in Vietnam in recent years, especially in rural areas.
The smuggled imports and counterfeits are dominating the market, causing a big loss of trillions of dong worth of tax collections to the state budget.
Doan Ngoc Linh, CEO of Pega, a manufacturer, said 90 percent of electric bicycles and bicycle components now available in the market don’t have clear origin.
When asked about the source of the figure, Linh said he calculated based on statistics released by state management agencies every year.
In 2019, about 700,000 electric bicycles and 50 cc motorbikes were sold in Vietnam, if counting the number of anti-counterfeiting stamps released by state management agencies, he said. But the real figure is no less than 1 million products, he added.

Meanwhile, a senior executive of Yadea said there are about over 5 million electric motorbikes and bicycles in Vietnam, which account for 5 percent of total two-wheel vehicles. The electric vehicle industry is growing by 35-40 percent per annum.
“Smuggled products mostly go across border gates with no clear origin, or are products made domestically with no registration,” he said. “There are no official statistics abut the products."
Meanwhile, ICTNews said statistics from the Vietnam Register (VR) showed that 52,938 electric bicycles were manufactured and assembled in Vietnam in 2019, while the number of imports was insignificant (40).
The number of electric motorbikes made in the same year was 237,742. The figure is insignificant compared with the millions of products reported by enterprises.
The electric motorbike and bicycle market has been growing recently and is considered lucrative.
Linh of Pega said most enterprises manufacture electric bicycles first before they begin assembling and distributing electric motorbikes, which became more popular two years ago.
Electric bicycles are priced at VND6-11 million, and mostly target students and the elderly.
Local newspapers cited a report from the market management agency in 2018 as showing that there were 3 million electric motorbikes and bicycles, but only 10 percent were put under control.
A representative of a Vietnam manufacturer said 80 percent of products available in the market are smuggled products.
It is estimated that there are over 2,000 electric motorbike and bicycle retail points of sale. Small-size models are the most popular.

Trong Dat (Source: VNA)