The government, with the help of local automotive parts makers, will try to convince Taiwanese motorcycle manufacturers to make the Philippines their production hub in their foray in the Southeast Asian market.

Dita Angara-Mathay, director of commercial affairs of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco) in Taipei, said Taiwanese firms are now training their sights on the 500-million Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) market, where there is a rapidly growing preference for two-wheeled vehicles.

In the Philippines alone, Angara-Mathay said there are about 1,000 motorcycles being registered with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) daily.

With its focus on Asean, Angara-Mathay said the fully integrated motorcycle-manufacturing industry of Taiwan would naturally look for a location in the region which would host their plants that would serve the market.

“The Taiwanese want their manufacturing to be near their market. So we are positioning the Philippines as their Asean hub,” Angara-Mathay said.

Meco, they said, will start bringing local parts makers to Taiwan in April to help in convincing the Taiwanese that the Philippines is a viable manufacturing destination for them.

The domestic parts industry, they said, will talk to potential Taiwanese partners who would surely find the Philippine proposition advantageous because they would be able to access the Asean market at the preferential tariff rates under the Asean Free Trade Agreement.

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Motorcycle makers showcased cheaper and more fuel-efficient models at the nation’s premier motorcycle show, as the industry tries to navigate a tough road of crippled consumer confidence and tighter access to credit that are weighing on sales.

The companies sought to drown out the gloomy news with the revved engines of 600 bikes from more than 250 exhibitors at the International Motorcycle Show, which ran through Sunday at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan.

“We’re definitely seeing where manufacturers are taking advantage of the smaller motorcycles in their lineup, the motorcycles that don’t get the kind of attention when things are sort of economically strong,” said show spokesman Robert Pandya. “We’re seeing motorcycles coming in that were originally designed for other markets that, because of people’s consciousness for fuel economy and ease of getting around, are all of a sudden finding a home in the U.S.”

Motorcycle sales tend to take a beating when the economy slows, and sales industrywide fell 2.2 percent in the third quarter of 2008, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council. In 2007, sales ended a 14-year growth streak by falling 6 percent.

In October, the top-selling U.S. motorcycle company, Harley-Davidson Inc., cut its 2008 sales forecast to between 303,500 and 306,000 motorcycles, down from 330,619 in 2007. The Milwaukee company is scheduled to report fourth-quarter earnings on Jan. 23, and analysts widely expect it to report that profit for the full-year declined from 2007.

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