The future of big bike motorcycling in Thailand received another disappointment from the Thai government as they increased the import duty with an extra 20% (now in total 123%) for motorcycles from 800 to 1000cc.

The Thai government expected that this new import duty raise will help the government gain more revenue of some Bt150 million.

Not so long ago the Thai government discussed the possibility of more motorcycle manufacturers to start production in Thailand. A German company, which already manufactures cars in Thailand, told the Thai government that they would be interested to start motorcycle production in Thailand, if the Thai government could help with making Thailand more motorcycle friendly.

Currently Thailand, compared to other countries in Southeast Asia, has one of the lowest big bike demand. As example Honda plans to sell 600 units in Thailand from the new 500cc CBR500R/CB500F/CB500X family, while the number of units planed for Singapore are much higher.

The main problem is that the Thai government is listening to much to the motorcycle manufacturers who already produce big bikes in Thailand (Honda, Kawasaki, Triumph), this companies don't want more competition and are very happy in restricting the market for other manufacturers.

Hello,
what is your source for this import duty increase for >800cc ?
I know a bit about the import regulation/taxation, so far all imported motorcycle are 'officially' subject to 60% import duties applicable on the CIF (Cost Insurance & Freight) value of the motorcycle. The duties level is less when it comes from Japan, about 30% thanks to Japan-ASEAN free trade priviledges (source : Thai Customs Website). On the top of that you have 3~5% of Excise Tax, and 7% VAT, calculated on the [CIF+Duties+Excise] value
At the end, a big bike is totally taxed at ~77% of its CIF Value when it is imported into Thailand (less for Japan made models). Ducati, Honda & Kawasaki have some models assembly line in Thailand, and sell locally at 'almost' the same price versus European prices. But they do import & sell a lot of other models locally subject to the above taxation.
The Triumph bikes sold on the Thai Market are all imported, even though there is a factory in Chonburi, but it is 100% for export.
So if the duties increase by 20% for new imported big bikes, this is going to be a disapointment for all importers/distributors and of course potential buyers of non-locally made models.
Thanks to share any news on this topic,

Websites from official government agencies are not always updated....

The source of the news is MCOT, which is an official Thai News agency http://www.mcot.net/site/content?id=50d ... NriL9fconQ

... The Thai customs website is indeed up do date in terms of motorcycle taxation. However, this article is really unclear. They say the excise tax should increase from 103 to 123% (!!) when it is today officially 3% applicable on 4 stroke engine, and 5% on 2 stoke engine. Maybe they are talking about the total taxation level, but it is still unaccurate as it is 77% overall. I am curious to see more details on the new taxation structure, but at the end the day, would the government approve the increase, everybody is going to really suffer about it.

Quote by: Julien

... The Thai customs website is indeed up do date in terms of motorcycle taxation. However, this article is really unclear. They say the excise tax should increase from 103 to 123% (!!) when it is today officially 3% applicable on 4 stroke engine, and 5% on 2 stoke engine. Maybe they are talking about the total taxation level, but it is still unaccurate as it is 77% overall. I am curious to see more details on the new taxation structure, but at the end the day, would the government approve the increase, everybody is going to really suffer about it.

I'm not so sure that the website of the Thai customs is up-to-date. They still say that it's possible to permanently import a used motorcycle. While in fact, according to the Thai embassy in Berlin, Germany, this is not possible

I believe more in the Thai Customs, which I worked with every day in Bangkok, than any Thai Embassy overseas... Anyway, in my previous posts I am talking about brand New (imported) Bike, not second hand. The second hand imported bikes are subject to different taxation and other import license than brand new ones. The point of this forum is to share more info on the new taxation applied to new imported bikes in Thailand. So if anyone has an update info, thanks to post.

Officially we did not hear anything, but we also read the same article in the newspaper as everybody else. We called some people and they also told use the same thing, with admitting that the source of the information was the same article posted on the website from MCOT.

Even other newspapers did run the article in a similar form, but they all refer to Thai news agency as source.

So for now, probably until January, we will know nothing 100% sure.


P.S. MCOT news agency has been wrong before... for example, they once published that BMW would start motorcycle production in Thailand, while BMW only had said that they where interested in motorcycle production in Thailand.

Hi,
reading other forums,
there is one information I found which seems to make sense.
Indeed the excise tax apparently has beed revised and depends on the Cylinder of the bike, when it depended on the engine stroke in the past.
The new regulation and excise tax level is revised as follow :

Previously
2 stroke engine => 5% excise
4 stroke engine => 3% excise

Now
<150cc => 3% excise
150cc< X < 500cc => 5% excise
500cc< X < 1000cc => 10% excise (!)
>1000cc => 20% excise (!!)

The trickiest part, is that Excise tax applies on Imported bikes as well as locally made ones !

Based on the above, and after doing the maths, here below what would be the New total tax level for brand new imported bike :
<150cc => ~77% of CIF price
150cc< X < 500cc => ~81% of CIF price
500cc< X < 1000cc => ~92% of CIF price
>1000cc => ~119% of CIF price

...and I was complaining when it was 77% in the past for all kind of cc...

I think Thai Government thinking right for the maufacture of motorcycles.

Quote by: ThaiDesign

The future of big bike motorcycling in Thailand received another disappointment from the Thai government as they increased the import duty with an extra 20% (now in total 123%) for motorcycles from 800 to 1000cc.

The Thai government expected that this new import duty raise will help the government gain more revenue of some Bt150 million.

Not so long ago the Thai government discussed the possibility of more motorcycle manufacturers to start production in Thailand. A German company, which already manufactures cars in Thailand, told the Thai government that they would be interested to start motorcycle production in Thailand, if the Thai government could help with making Thailand more motorcycle friendly.

Currently Thailand, compared to other countries in Southeast Asia, has one of the lowest big bike demand. As example Honda plans to sell 600 units in Thailand from the new 500cc CBR500R/CB500F/CB500X family, while the number of units planed for Singapore are much higher.

The main problem is that the Thai government is listening to much to the motorcycle manufacturers who already produce big bikes in Thailand (Honda, Kawasaki, Triumph), this companies don't want more competition and are very happy in restricting the market for other manufacturers.

Quote by: Julien

Hello,
what is your source for this import duty increase for >800cc ?
I know a bit about the import regulation/taxation, so far all imported motorcycle are 'officially' subject to 60% import duties applicable on the CIF (Cost Insurance & Freight) value of the motorcycle. The duties level is less when it comes from Japan, about 30% thanks to Japan-ASEAN free trade priviledges (source : Thai Customs Website). On the top of that you have 3~5% of Excise Tax, and 7% VAT, calculated on the [CIF+Duties+Excise] value
At the end, a big bike is totally taxed at ~77% of its CIF Value when it is imported into Thailand (less for Japan made models). Ducati, Honda & Kawasaki have some models assembly line in Thailand, and sell locally at 'almost' the same price versus European prices. But they do import & sell a lot of other models locally subject to the above taxation.
The Triumph bikes sold on the Thai Market are all imported, even though there is a factory in Chonburi, but it is 100% for export.
So if the duties increase by 20% for new imported big bikes, this is going to be a disapointment for all importers/distributors and of course potential buyers of non-locally made models.
Thanks to share any news on this topic,

This is new to me that Triumph has a factory at Chonburi. So they produce big bikes there and sell to another country but Thailand? And if Thai market buy these products, they need to pay 77% tax as well?

According to the new rules, imported motorcycles with an engine 500cc up to 1000cc will be 92% of CIF price.

Currently all motorcycles from Triumph are imported into Thailand. According to the latest information Triumph doesn't manufacture complete motorcycles at the Chonburi facility. Production for Asian models has been moved to the Indian mega-factory...

Chonburi currently only makes parts...

Quote by: silenzo

Quote by: Julien

Hello,
what is your source for this import duty increase for >800cc ?
I know a bit about the import regulation/taxation, so far all imported motorcycle are 'officially' subject to 60% import duties applicable on the CIF (Cost Insurance & Freight) value of the motorcycle. The duties level is less when it comes from Japan, about 30% thanks to Japan-ASEAN free trade priviledges (source : Thai Customs Website). On the top of that you have 3~5% of Excise Tax, and 7% VAT, calculated on the [CIF+Duties+Excise] value
At the end, a big bike is totally taxed at ~77% of its CIF Value when it is imported into Thailand (less for Japan made models). Ducati, Honda & Kawasaki have some models assembly line in Thailand, and sell locally at 'almost' the same price versus European prices. But they do import & sell a lot of other models locally subject to the above taxation.
The Triumph bikes sold on the Thai Market are all imported, even though there is a factory in Chonburi, but it is 100% for export.
So if the duties increase by 20% for new imported big bikes, this is going to be a disapointment for all importers/distributors and of course potential buyers of non-locally made models.
Thanks to share any news on this topic,

This is new to me that Triumph has a factory at Chonburi. So they produce big bikes there and sell to another country but Thailand? And if Thai market buy these products, they need to pay 77% tax as well?

What are the chances of the new Triumph 250 twin which is to be produced in India coming to Thailand at a reasonable price? Does Thailand have a free trade agreement with India for machines up to 250cc?

Quote by: Max

Quote by: silenzo

Quote by: Julien

Hello,
what is your source for this import duty increase for >800cc ?
I know a bit about the import regulation/taxation, so far all imported motorcycle are 'officially' subject to 60% import duties applicable on the CIF (Cost Insurance & Freight) value of the motorcycle. The duties level is less when it comes from Japan, about 30% thanks to Japan-ASEAN free trade priviledges (source : Thai Customs Website). On the top of that you have 3~5% of Excise Tax, and 7% VAT, calculated on the [CIF+Duties+Excise] value
At the end, a big bike is totally taxed at ~77% of its CIF Value when it is imported into Thailand (less for Japan made models). Ducati, Honda & Kawasaki have some models assembly line in Thailand, and sell locally at 'almost' the same price versus European prices. But they do import & sell a lot of other models locally subject to the above taxation.
The Triumph bikes sold on the Thai Market are all imported, even though there is a factory in Chonburi, but it is 100% for export.
So if the duties increase by 20% for new imported big bikes, this is going to be a disapointment for all importers/distributors and of course potential buyers of non-locally made models.
Thanks to share any news on this topic,

This is new to me that Triumph has a factory at Chonburi. So they produce big bikes there and sell to another country but Thailand? And if Thai market buy these products, they need to pay 77% tax as well?

What are the chances of the new Triumph 250 twin which is to be produced in India coming to Thailand at a reasonable price? Does Thailand have a free trade agreement with India for machines up to 250cc?

Yes, Thailand and India have a free trade agreement. Kawasaki used the same free trade agreement to ship Thai build Kawasaki Ninja 250R to India....