Why Dealers Are Not Your Distribution Channel — They’re Your Risk Filter

A Ground-Level View from Southeast Asia’s EV Motorcycle Market

When electric motorcycle sales stall in Southeast Asia, I often hear the same explanation:

“Dealers are not pushing hard enough.”

It’s an easy conclusion to reach. It’s also one of the most misleading.

From what I’ve seen across Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand, dealers are rarely the bottleneck because they lack motivation or understanding.They are cautious for a much simpler reason:

they are filtering risk.

Dealers don’t ask “Can I sell this?”

They ask “What problems will this bring back to my shop?”

Most motorcycle dealers in Southeast Asia are not large retail chains.They are small, family-run businesses operating on thin margins and tight cash flow.

When a new electric motorcycle brand approaches them, their internal checklist looks very different from what most brands expect.

They are not thinking about:

• brand vision

• long-term electrification trends

• technology leadership

They are thinking about:

• who handles the first angry customer

• how long repairs will take

• whether spare parts arrive in days or weeks

• what happens if the brand stops responding

From their point of view, selling a motorcycle is not a transaction — it’s a long-term responsibility.

Why high margins don’t compensate for high uncertainty

One of the most common misconceptions I hear is:

“If margins are attractive enough, dealers will push the product.”

That logic rarely holds in practice.

Margins represent upside. Uncertainty represents downside.

In Southeast Asia, dealers consistently choose:

• predictable, lower-margin productsover

• higher-margin products that introduce new risks

A familiar ICE motorcycle with modest margins but known failure modes is often far more attractive than an EV with unclear service pathways.

Dealers don’t optimize for profit per unit.They optimize for problem minimization.

The silent rejection pattern: “listed but not pushed”

There is a pattern I see repeatedly, especially with new EV brands:

• the motorcycle is displayed in-store

• brochures are available

• sales staff know the specifications

But when a customer asks for a recommendation, the EV is rarely suggested.

From headquarters, this looks like poor execution. From the dealer’s side, it is deliberate risk control.

By listing but not pushing, dealers:

• avoid confrontation

• avoid inventory exposure

• avoid being the first point of blame

Demand is allowed to pull — if it exists.And if it doesn’t, the dealer remains protected.

Why training and marketing rarely change this behavior

When sales underperform, brands often respond with:

• more product training

• additional incentives

• stronger marketing materials

These efforts usually fail to move the needle.

Not because dealers don’t understand the product —but because knowledge does not reduce risk.

No amount of training convinces a dealer to push a motorcycle if:

• battery responsibility is unclear

• software behavior feels unpredictable

• spare parts logistics are fragile

• escalation paths are slow or invisible

Until these concerns are structurally addressed, behavior won’t change.

Dealers absorb risk long before brands feel it

Here’s a reality that’s often underestimated:

When something goes wrong with a motorcycle, the customer does not call headquarters.They go back to the dealer.

Even if the issue originates from:

• battery degradation

• controller failure

• software behavior

The dealer becomes the face of the problem.

Unless the brand has clearly absorbed that risk — through fast response, parts availability, and visible support — dealers will instinctively limit exposure.

This is not resistance. It’s self-preservation.

Why dealer conservatism keeps the system stable

It’s tempting to frame dealer caution as backward or risk-averse.

That misses the point.

Dealers sit at the intersection of:

• consumers

• financing partners

• service realities

They see patterns early.They see which brands disappear quietly.They see how fast reputations travel in local networks.

In Southeast Asia, this conservatism is not a flaw. It is what prevents the system from collapsing under constant experimentation.

What EV brands that gain dealer traction do differently

The brands that eventually earn dealer trust tend to do a few unglamorous things exceptionally well:

• they make battery liability explicit

• they guarantee spare parts availability

• they respond quickly and visibly to early failures

• they over-communicate service responsibility

In short, they prove that risk does not stop at the dealer’s door.

Once that confidence exists, selling becomes far easier — without additional incentives.

Reframing the question founders should ask

Instead of asking:“Why aren’t dealers selling our bikes harder?”

A more useful question is:“What risk are we still asking dealers to carry for us?”

If the answer isn’t clear, the dealer has already decided.

Closing reflection

In Southeast Asia, dealers are not distribution channels waiting to be activated.

They are filters — quietly deciding which products the system is ready to absorb.

If a motorcycle passes that filter, scale becomes possible.If it doesn’t, no amount of marketing will force it through.

What comes next

If dealers are filtering risk, one final gatekeeper remains:

financing.

In the next piece, I’ll look at why many electric motorcycles never fail publicly —they simply never get financed at scale.

Want to continue the conversation?

If you’re building or advising an electric motorcycle business in Southeast Asia — and want a grounded discussion about dealers, risk ownership, and realistic go-to-market paths — you can explore more of my work here: https://www.thekaiassociates.com

Or reach out directly.I’m always more interested in discussing what actually slows scale than repeating optimistic narratives.