Motosikal dan Enjin Nasional Sdn Bhd (MODENAS), the national motorcycle maker, wants to increase its market share in Sarawak to 15 per cent this year, with the sale of its latest edition, Motosikal Rakyat 1 (MR1), and another new model to be launched next month.
Chief Executive Officer Abdul Halim Ismail said MODENAS' current market share in the state was 12 per cent, placing the company in third spot after two japanese makes.
"Our ultimate target is to achieve 20 per cent market share in the next three years," he told BERNAMA at the state-level MR1 launch.
The MR1 received 13,700 bookings at its national-level launch in Gurun in December last year.
Abdul Halim said MODENAS has been delivering the MR1 motorcycles in phases since January and expects to honour the bookings by next month.
"Our plant in Gurun has the capacity to produce 10,000 motorcycles a month. We will produce at least 6,000 MR1s and another 2,000 units of the current models.
"We intend to sell 200 to 300 MR1s a month in Sarawak via our 125 sub-dealers statewide.
"Our main dealer, Ghee Hua Sdn Bhd, sold about 100 units last month. The feedback from dealers and buyers is encouraging. We're bringing in another 100 MR1s this month.
"We're also looking at sending 1,000 MR1s to Sabah in the next three months," he said.
Abdul Halim said he believed the MR1 would sell well in Sarawak as the motorbike was sold at an affordable price of RM3,588 a unit.
"Moreover, motorcycles are a popular mode of transport in Sarawak's rural and interior areas.
"Our price will be a very attractive consideration for people looking for second-hand motorbikes. Why buy a used motorbike when you can get a brand new one for only a slightly higher price?
"There will be no problems with spare parts as the MR1 is a domestic product and will be cheaper as well," he said.
Assuring buyers of the MR1s uncompromising quality, Abdul Halim said the motorcycle has been subjected to stringent road tests, covering 20,000km instead of 10,000km previously.
"It also underwent 300-hour tests for its dynamometer instead of 200 hours before.
The MR1s 100cc engine is developed in collaboration with Kawasaki, a Japanese motorcycle giant, to conform with the Japanese Industrial Standard, he said.
Abdul Halim hoped Malaysians would support the MR1, saying this would spur more Malaysian engineers to come up with new motorcycle designs.
"As a matter of fact, MODENAS is the only motorcycle company that has its own research and development facility in the country.
"We sent our engineers overseas and to local universities to come up with new designs and new concepts to benefit Malaysians.
"We also planned to export the MR1s to Indonesia and Laos," he added.
originally posted: Bernama Auto by Edward Subeng Stephen
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