Ducati Monster Forum

If you buy a new Duacti in Thailand you will be told not to use Gasohol as it will damage the plastic tank ....thats an official statement from main dealer.
Now it may be that one has to use gasohol sometime as regular 95 and 91 RON octane fuels are not always available but then one is told to fill tank up with regular gas as soon as possible and to store the bike with regular gas and not Gasohol in the tank ....its only 5% in thaialnd not the 10% stuff in USA but thats what the dealers are telling new owners.

Sales of the new Thailand  made Monster 795 are booming here due to the low price only 400,000 Baht ($12,000)  which is very cheap here compared to imported models that will cost 150% more

Good to know, I'm in BKK right now and I was wondering why I saw so many more monsters around all of a sudden.

Is the pricing lower on Triumphs too?  I might have to move here sometime soon and since Triumphs are made in country I was wondering if they bypass the import duty too.  Though I see far fewer Triumph's than ducs though for some reason.

Triumph  Thailand sales are poor due to High prices  even though Bonny 900 models and  Thunderbirf 1700 are made here thay are charged full import duty same as the UK made imported models wheras Ducati and Kawasaki can charge much lower prices on Thai made models such as monster 795 which is 400,000 baht  the bonny 900  is 550,000 + which is stupid ....Triumph will have to re-negotiate their deal with Customs and BOI .

Imporrted bikes have up to 200% duty .

My '09 T-100 was assembled in Thailand. The handpainted tank and engine and maybe the frame come from Hinckley. Most of the rest is sourced from Japan, etc., so why not. You should visit the plant.

The managers mostly came from Hinckley and the workforce in Thailand is allegedly very good. QC is on par with Hinckley.

Besides Bonnevilles, they may assemble Tigers there. Not sure what else.

Am I to assume Triumph/Ducati will at some point reduce their existing factories and work-force in England/Italy ? 

Or is this an expansion for now which will eventually lead to shutting down or reducing the home factories ?

I hate outsourcing to anywhere in any job type.  Just saying.  Hard to be objective about outsourcing topic.  Been outsourced a few times already.

I have visited all 3 of triumphs Thai factories , 2 make only parts the 3rd is a twin track production line ,quality is excellent , triumph still make all the sports  triples and engines in UK and wanted to expand in UK but were prevented by UK planning law thats why they built 3 facories in Thailand .



Both Ducati and triumph are expanding in asia but will not stop producing in Europe , expect Bmw,Apprillia and HD to do same for less duties to pay ,KTM already have factory in India 

Damn, that means if I do start spending more time here it's going to be a lot more annoying to have a bike around.  And one more OT question though... how's the used bike market in BKK?  Still as high as the used car market?

Yes its high but good deals can be had on some older models , pattaya has some good dealers as does chonburi and sisaket depends what you want remember 50% of big bike market is HDs then 40% jap then the rest

can you make a photo or copy of the notice?

putting that towards your class action folder of stuff in regards to the whole plastic tank debacle for expanding tanks due to ethanol here in the US?

it certainly does make the point that the manufacturer is aware of a problem even if ethanol itself isn't the issue.  on the other hand, it could just be the dealers are reading the internet and speaking for themselves.

The official line is that the factories are to be used for bikes only in their domestic markets.  They were supposedly set up to avoid local import duties.  If the bike is built domestically, no import duties are collected, even if the bike is assembled from imported parts.

Duties in some countries can double or more the cost of a bike.  Brazil and some countires in SE Asia are particularly draconian in protecting their domestic manufacturers (and, thereby, domestic jobs).  Opening local factories is the most cost effective strategy for competing in these markets if the expected unit volume is relatively high.

I don't expect any announcements of layoffs or closures in either Bologna (where Ducati just constructed a new factory....the first one since WWII) or Hinckley (where Triumph works in a relatively new facility, too).

At least in the case of Triumph which is privately owned, Bloor has a keen and loyal workforce in Hinckley. Expansion has been at the rate of roughly 10% per year and that keeps the business growing while avoiding over-supply situations, distress sales, etc.

No idea whether facility expansion was restricted by the Labour Party or the County Council as suggested above. Sounds unlikely and I hadn't heard that, but anything is possible. Land IS pretty tight around there.

Nevertheless, all R&D and the important hard parts are made in Hinckley. Unlike a car, no sticker came with my T-100 showing % of content from whatever countries. The Japanese have been doing what Triumph is doing for ages. The product has to remain competitive, so forks, shocks, instruments, wheels, controls, etc., etc, come from the same Far Eastern sources the Japanese are using. Therefore, for other than EC consumption, it makes perfect sense to assemble in Thailand for any logistics and other advantages to be had. I doubt it's costing Brits any existing jobs.

My only gripe with Triumph has been their budget components to meet a sharp price point. They HAVE to do this or they'd miss their target market completely and sell no bikes at all!!! So, they know what they are doing. My bike cost $8K and has cost another $1.5K to get it to work reasonably. It's lovable and fun and fit-for-purpose now but can't be "fixed" further without spending a fortune.

Too bad they don't have a boutique line for custom orders. I'd have happily paid $4K more for a chromoly frame and premium wheels and components on a bike which weighed 20% less. No enough of "me" around to make this a profitable venture I'd imagine. How sweet that would be though. The stock engine is stone axe reliable, low maintenance, and has pleasant power with another 20% easily available. That's still massively cheaper than http://www.nortonmotorcycles.com/ (http://www.nortonmotorcycles.com/)

I will ask the local dealer ,,,,i have not seen any written notice but they are telling this info to all new buyers .

Bloor wanted to expand the Hinkley plant and build another facility nearbyy he already bought the land which was an existing disused business park for heavy industry but County council and then central goverment depts blocked his application back in 2002, it was very contoversial and he was pissed it was in local press and MCN and also Financial Times thats when he decided to increase his plants in thailand from 1 to 3 with options for 2 more.....very short sighted by UK government ?????? and no real explanation why???? the county council had some idiot PC bullshit plan to encourage software industry in an old heavy manufacturing area and since then Jaguar cars have been allowed to build new plants in the area ???????go figure .

however Bloors deal with thai government needs modifying as he can export the bikes to all over asia at beneficial rates of duty which is good for triumph but local sales are low as his deal is not same as Ducatis's who get a much lower tax rate on thai sales ?????

Thanks for the info, jerryz. What is Jag doing on that site now? I thought they had excess capacity in Halewood and engines are coming from Bridgend.

Back to the tank, is Thailand stuck with a PA6 tank rather than PEX? I thought PEX tanks were issue-free except that they evidently can't pass the US EPA or CARB shed test.

Why some enterprising U.S. Ducati specialist doesn't order a container of PEX tanks "for offroad use" is beyond me. The NAS PA6 tank is 586.3.171.1D while the Euro tanks are 586.3.171.1C per the respective parts books...

Dont suppose you know what material the Thai market plastic tanks made from, PA (nylon) - as shipped to the US market or XLPE (polyethylene)  - as shipped to Australian and European markets? 

PEX, XPLE why are european bikes getting the problem then?????and on only 5% ethanol content ? 

I will try and find out what the thai produced bikes are using next week after new year.