Japan warns Vietnam over Hanoi petrol motorbike ban

Japan has stepped in to warn Vietnam that its looming ban on petrol motorbikes could cost thousands of jobs and hit Japanese manufacturers hard, with Honda, the country’s biggest bike brand, apparently right in the firing line.

According to documents seen by Reuters, Japan’s embassy in Hanoi wrote to Vietnamese authorities urging them to rethink the abrupt timeline for the ban. The message was clear: rushing to outlaw petrol bikes by mid-2026 in central Hanoi could devastate supporting industries — from dealerships to parts suppliers — and trigger a domino effect across the country’s massive two-wheeler market.

Vietnam’s Prime Minister, Pham Minh Chinh, announced the measure in July as part of a push to tackle Hanoi’s choking air pollution. The government also plans wider restrictions from 2028, potentially rolling them out to other major cities. Japan’s letter reportedly called for a more “appropriate roadmap” with a phased rollout to give the industry time to adapt to electrification and/or alternative fuels.

The scale of what’s at stake is enormous. Vietnam’s two-wheeler market is one of the biggest on Earth, worth an estimated $4.6 billion, with registered motorbikes nearly matching 80 per cent of its 100 million-strong population. Honda alone controls around 80 per cent of that market, selling 2.6 million bikes last year. Its name is so synonymous with motorbikes that the word “Honda” is colloquially used in place of “bike” in Vietnamese.

In July, Honda, Yamaha, and Suzuki, via an industry group, sent their own warning to Hanoi. They cautioned that the ban could lead to “production interruptions and the risk of bankruptcy” for suppliers, dealers, and parts makers, affecting hundreds of thousands of jobs. They’ve asked for at least two to three years of preparation to adjust production and build a proper charging network.

As it stands, Honda has several electric bikes waiting in the wings. It has got a large capacity equivalent bike, called the EV Fun, and lighter commuter style machines, like the EV Urban. It also has the E-VO, which is already taking to the streets in China, while here in the UK we already have the EM1 e:. Those models help to prove that it's not a lack of electric models that is the worry - it's the uptake of them being minimal due to a lack of regional charging infrastructure.

Meanwhile, domestic brand VinFast is gearing up to seize the electric future, with sales of its e-bikes up 55 per cent in the second quarter of 2025. According to Reuters, Honda’s sales fell sharply after the ban announcement - down 22 per cent in August before a modest recovery in September.

Japan’s warning is the latest sign that Vietnam’s bold environmental plans could create as many economic ripples as they solve pollution problems.

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