Win Mahar salesmen show off their three-wheel vehicle at a car show at the South Dagon sports ground in Yangon earlier this month. Pic: Win Nyunt Lwin

TURNING heads at a car fair in South Dagon township, Yangon, this month was a bright-yellow three-wheeler that would look more at home among the tuk-tuks of Bangkok than the gruntier jeeps more commonly made in Myanmar.

But its manufacturer, Win Mahar, which has a factory at the South Dagon Industrial Zone, is confident the motorcycle/pickup-truck hybrid will take off here.

With a motorbike’s front wheel and a sturdy rear axle supporting a wellside carry-tray, Win Mahar production manager U Win Naing Tun says the vehicle should prove popular for transporting goods or people.

The Chinese-made, 150cc Lifan engine can power the oversized tricycle to speeds up to 100-kilometres (60 miles) an hour, U Win Naing Tun says, although it is doubtful people will see them cruising along Yangon streets as rules banning private motorbikes from the city probably extend to the trike.
The 5-speed three-wheeler has a motorbike seat and handlebars, with the accelerator in the handgrip like a motorcycle's.

The company is yet to sell one of their models and prices have not been determined, although U Win Naing Tun predicts they will go on the market for K3-3.5 million.

“So far there is no competitor for the design,” he says.

The 10-day car show at the South Dagon sports ground from October 29 to November 7 was the first public showing of the Win Mahar vehicle.

Formed earlier this year, the company employs 11 staff and was given permission to manufacture 30 of the tricycles this year, of which 10 have been completed.

U Win Naing Tun said Win Mahar hoped to establish a showroom for its vehicles in Pyay, Bago Division, before the end of the year.

About 20 cars were sold during the car fair, which was organised by the Minsitry of Industry (1) to showcase Myanmar-made vehicles and goods manufactured by the ministry’s own companies.

U Kyaw Kyaw Khant, a member of the management committee for South Dagon Industrial Zone No. 2, said interest in locally-made cars was increasing due to their rising standard of quality and cheaper prices.

“While an imported, secondhand light-truck sells for more than K20 million, locally-made models sell for about K15 million,” U Kyaw Kyaw Khant said.

More Myanmar people were also becoming interested in manufacturing their own cars due to government support for such products, he said, noting that more than 43 Myanmar carmakers displayed vehicles at the fair.