Thai Yamaha Motor Co, the local unit of the Japanese motorcycle maker, is more bullish about its business prospects, predicting sales to grow for a second straight year this year.
Chief operating officer Praphan Phornthanavarsit, said 2017 is expected to be a year of robust recovery for Yamaha as sales posted an increase for the first time in 2016 after three years of contraction.
"Yamaha has shifted more to the sports and big bike segment and away from the tepid mass segment," said Mr Praphan. "As a result, Yamaha achieved higher sales for the first time in to 246,167 motorcycles last year, up by 16.8% from a year before, with market share rising 1.6 percentage points to 14.1%."
Th sports and big bike segment accounted for 22% of Yamaha's total sales last year, up from 9% in a previous year.
The company said on Saturday it aims to increase sales to a healthy growth of 15.8% this year to 285,000, with the market share increasing by 2.2 percentage points to 16.3%.
Sports and big bikes are projected to make up for 24% of total sales in 2017, with 70,500 units sold, up by 7% from 2016.
The company plans to introduce four new models of motorcycles and four new big bikes this year, excluding refreshed models.
"We believe Thailand's overall big bike market of above 400cc will remain very healthy with 28,000 units in 2017 compared with 23,800 units sold last year, although the growth pace is slowing down," he said.
Mr Praphan forecast the country's overall motorcycle sales will rise slightly to 1.75 million in 2017, up from 1.74 million units last year, which saw a 4% rise.
He said certain risks that may weaken the motorcycle market still exist, such as the relatively low farm product prices and more importantly, the high household debt averaging at 300,000 baht per household.
"We're pinning our hopes on the government's spending spree on megaprojects to help stimulate the Thai economy this year, and a strong recovery of the export sector," said Mr Praphan.
Thailand's exports eked out marginal growth of 0.45% in 2016, ending three years of contraction. Exports totalled US$215 billion (7.54 trillion baht) last year, with imports shrinking 3.94% to $195 billion.
Mr Praphan said under its mid-term plan until 2019, Yamaha plans to study the viability of electric motorcycles in Thailand. Yamaha electric motorcycles are now available in mature markets such as Taiwan.