Yuan Jin Shan, general manager of the Chinese Luoyang Northern Ek Chor Motorcycle Company Ltd, said his company was very much interested to manufacture Dayang brand motorcycle in Bangladesh.

Currently, there is no motorcycle manufacturing industry in the country. A total of 23 companies import different brands of motorcycles from Japan, India, China and Pakistan to meet an annual demand of 40,000 to 45,000 units. The motorcycles are being assembled locally.

Dayang has been marketing motorcycle in Bangladesh through Runner Automobile Ltd since 2000. Last week it established the first ever automatic assembling and testing line replacing the manual assembling system at Savar.

Jin Shan said the market potential rural Bangladesh is very high, as there is a big demand for an easy transport like motorcycle. Referring to a large number of motorcycle uses in some other South Asian countries, he said the motorcycle has proved its worth in bringing greater mobility in India and Pakistan.

Around 4.8 million units of motorcycle are sold in India and 0.2 million units in Pakistan every year, he said, adding his company is looking for good partners to set up joint venture industries for manufacturing motorcycle and its spare parts.

Managing Director of the Runner Automobiles Hafizur Rahman Khan said he has been talking with the Chine Company to set up the joint venture plant to reduce motorcycle price as much as possible. "Our target is to make motorcycle more affordable to medium and low income groups of people," he said.

The Runner markets 50 CC to 125CCs of Dayang, LML Freedom and Hero (China) brands at a price ranges from Tk 40,500 to 74,500 each. Japanese brand is the costly one in the country with a price up to Tk 1,47,000 per unit.