Vietnam dispute has worldwide impact for motorcycle manufacturers

The eyes of motorcycle manufacturers worldwide are on Vietnam over a dispute of whether Honda’s name was used illegally by a local company to boost sales.

What has started as a dispute over a 125cc scooter could have implications for manufacturers of motorcycles of all sizes.

A rival local motorcycle manufacturer in Vietnam, Vinashin Motors could be using the Honda name to help sell its Diamond Blue 125 model claiming it has an engine built by the Japanese manufacturer. But officials for the both the Japanese head office as well as its subsidiary Honda Sundiro say they never designed or built the engine advertised in the Diamond Blue 125.

As if to further muddy the waters in this international dispute, the Diamond Blue 125 looks remarkably like a Vespa LX, which is designed by the Italian company Piaggio.

Looks Italian with a Japanese powerhouse riding the roads of Vietnam

Honda had won approval for authorities in Vietnam to stop all sales of the controversial motorcycle but it appears too late. The company is sold out after introducing the model in September.

“At the moment, we don\'t have any Diamond Blues for sale because we have sold them all,” an anonymous salesman for Vinashin Motors said in a mea culpa moment, “We have sold more than 2,000 Diamond Blue scooters. Even if Honda sues us and wins, we will reimburse our customers.”

The incident has brought together competing motorcycle manufacturers. In the paperwork filed to stop the sale of the disputed motorcycle, chairman of Piaggio Vietnam signed alongside the representative for Honda, noting Piaggio isn’t considering legal action over the matter because it never registered a copyright for its Vespa LX design in Vietnam.

Any legal action by Honda is on hold as the company investigates whether the engines in question were manufactured by a Honda licensee. If that is the case VinashinMotor would have the right to advertise them as such without the Honda’s permission under a \'parallel importation\' in international intellectual-property trade law.

But the incident could be considered a ‘worst-case scenario’ for the multitude of motorcycle manufacturers not only rushing to put their product in showrooms around the world, but also with the foreign manufacturing facilities of their motorcycles.

Any such future incidents could leave BMW, Harley-Davidson, Ducati or even Victory Motorcycles facing the slightly amended adage of ‘the grass isn’t always greener in New Dehli’.