Congestion in the Philippines Is High
In a traffic index study in 2019, it was determined that Metro Manila, the capital of the Philippines, had the second-heaviest traffic in the world. The reason for this starts with the public transportation system, according to GMA Network. From there, people who could bought cars and took motorcycle taxis. Now the cars pack the streets and motorcycle taxis can be hard to get, depending on the time of day. This has led to a huge surge in interest in and purchases of motorcycles and scooters.
Carousell is a classifieds website and reported that searches for motorcycles and scooters in the Philippines rose dramatically recently. The report showed that the brands searched for most often include: Yamaha, Ducati, Vespa, Honda, and Harley-Davidson.
The Philippines has already been a pretty good market, and it sounds like it will only get better. This will likely lead to more companies focusing their products there. While most names on the list don’t surprise me, I was a bit surprised to see Harley-Davidson on the list.
I know it’s a global brand, but when I think of cutting through the traffic of Manila, I don’t think HD. However, the new moves Harley has been making to produce a smaller-displacement motorcycle for Asian markets could be exactly what people are looking for. Time will tell.
I would have thought all thru asia scooters or bikes would always be the better way to travel.maybe different there now and catching up quick to get the scooters
It doesn’t matter what you ride in Manila. My first Harley back in college was a 1993 883 XLH DeLuxe. I rode that for 17 years day in day out, rain or storm. Then Sold that riding bigger wider big twins from a Big Dog Mastiff, Softails, Dynas, baggers to Victory and Indians.
There are currently 5 H-D dealers in the Philippines, a few Ducati dealers and 1 Indian Motorcycle dealer, BMWs, Royal Enfield, Benneli, KTM, URAL and soon Triumph Motorcycles.
Now I settled with a 1997 XL1200 Custom, carb, old and easier to maintain for a daily ride. To tell you honestly, It really depends on the time of day you ride and the level of riding skill. Your commute from point A to B can be fun to horrifying.