Evame Motors Ghana, the sole importer of Haojue motorcycles in the country has clarified the recent price hikes of its machines in the local market. Motorcycle users in the Tamale metropolis in recent weeks have complained about the astronomical increment resulting in a rift between some dealers and the populace.
One of the dealers, identified as Alhaji Oboye, a couple of days ago purportedly blamed the company for the increment of the motorcycles particularly Haojue (HJ110-5) known as Dash-5 which has generated a lot of controversy in the northern region.
The Country Director of Evame Motors, Mr. Akpah Koffiv Jules, said the claims of the dealer [Alhaji Oboye] was unfounded and asked the public to disregard it.
However, he explained the distributor at his last supply on March 25, 2022, took delivery of 400 motorbikes which included 100 pieces of the Haojue (HJ110-5).
The wholesale price for that particular machine was GHS7,200 and the retail price at GHS7,600.
“The problem we have with Oboye is that we gave him some motorbike, [they don’t buy the motorbikes cash] about 400 or I can say 800 but I told him to keep the 400 motorbikes unless he finish the other 400; so immediately I gave him the goods, the following day the dollar went up and we increase our prices and all the other dealers in Tamale and different regions accepted the new price but he declined the new price.
So we told him if he would not accept it we will give to him at the old price and we expected him to sell the motorbikes to people at the old price but he did not and rather sold it at the new price of GHS8,100” he revealed.
He stated the claim that Oboye was fighting the company in the public interest was untrue but rather to enjoy more profit at the expense of the public.
Mr. Akpah Koffiv Jules indicated the dealer selling at the new price was making a profit of GHS900 compare to other dealers who were making just GHS300 or 400 cedis.
Rationale for price hikes
The Evame Motors Country Director in an exclusive interview explained the price hikes was however due to the high exchange rate and the government of Ghana increment of import duty to 20 percent.
He told Mohammed Gadafi, the Northern Regional Correspondent of THE CUSTODIAN that; there was also a shortage of raw materials in China resulting in high cost of production in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“From China they have increased the price of the motor and the raw material now is very expensive in China, everybody knows there’s Covid-19 and some countries are not working and so to get the raw material is very difficult and as a result the Chinese people have also increased the motorbikes.
People asked why other company’s motorbike price is not high like that; because in China Haojue is number one and we cannot compromise on quality, we want to maintained the quality of our motor and our quality can’t be compared to others” he explained.
Mr. Jules disclosed further that shipping fees has also increased exorbitantly from $2,500 to $8,000 and $10,000 dollars which are all factors influencing the motor price.
“And right now too, they have increased our import duty by 20%, so all these matters and the charges on our bank transfers from Ghana to China are not helping the business” he lamented.
Haojue (HJ110-5) which has become one of the preferred brands for many motorcycle users in the north and popularly referred to as Dash-5 or ‘Waljira’ in Tamale by many is now sold at eight thousand one hundred (GHS8,100).
Public agitations
Meanwhile, a section of the public in the Tamale metropolis has taken the price hikes to the social media to express their frustrations in the past few days.
In this regard, the company has appealed to the government to review the 20% import duty to enable them reduce the prices in the Ghanaian market for consumers.
