Picardo,
Humm. Nope. Importadora Ventura sold over 50.000 units annually of the used- the new market was a joke. What Dominican bought new.. maybe 10 clients. PS- I sold those to Ventura, Papin, and all the rest... stick to the cut and paste. On this one, your talking to the market.
PS... when I sold the Kawaski, Bajaj and Jincheng line to Magna Motors last year our 42 associated dealers went with them and they are all sold 100% of Bajaj quality. If price plays into it, gotta go with Jincheng..
The New bike market in the DR is at 100-150cc.. and utility.... the Passolas were dominated by used.. always. Just about like everything else in the country..
By the way, the SYM and Honda 70 were the top sellers... and the Yamaha Jogs and Axis ruled the 90's....
Buddy my father was the owner of "La Central" in Santiago, which later was partitioned to Domingo Motors, Infate Motors and Equipos Central. Dad was the third sales rep for the Mercedes Benz in the Caribbean. The countless trips I made with him to Germany can fill a library of stories to write about. Cars got shipped to Panama to later be transferred to the DR in smaller ships that could berth in our port (forget to even mention the then mini-port of PP).
My first trip to Japan came on the heels of a contract for the Passola... I was a youngster then with an avid need for new cultures to learn about...
The DR had a very reduced market for used vehicles then, since it was cheaper to have a car prepared and tittle from dealers/manufacturers than a used one for the in between ports shipping. The only true used vehicles that made the trip direct to the DR, were the commercial types. These required no especial handling for the long haul on salty water, since most already got a HD paint treatment for their operations and the mechanical components. As you must be aware, at the time most cars for the general market made the trip not in containers, but simply driven onto a park-like-laid boat that left the vehicles exposed to the salty water humidity.
Shipping a used vehicle with a stop over in a second port of transfer made the trip more expensive for dealers. New vehicles got shipped using a type of cover that was to be removed on delivery to the lots only. Unlike today's nice plastic coverings, back then these covers were not cheap or optional. They came only on new cars!
In fact the Passolas were so new and so little was placed in the parts market, that many units meant for retail ended up being taken apart to fill the demand for spare that went from body plastics to entire engine parts. The Beluga was the first true all import/service model introduced in the DR, with a support for parts and body spares along the units themselves.
And just so you know (if you didn't) all the scooters that got imported into the DR from Japan like the Yamahas, Honda, etc... Came as kits! Not a single one came in one piece! Your scenario for used scooters bought in Japan (which would have been marred with Japanese letters and name plates) and shipped to the DR is flawed 100% to say the least!
I couldn't even phantom to imagine somebody buying bulk used scooters in Japan, then having to pay to replace all the speedometers, tags, etc... Just to ship them to the DR... Let alone take them apart to prepare the crates (as the costs per unit for shipping would have increased greatly give the space used for each in one piece) in Japan for shipping...
The first used scooters to come to the DR, came as a result of a flooded market in LA and a lot of "illegal" biz to supply the market into the DR. Japan? NOPE!
Even bicycles are shipped in parts for space savings, you really think a scooter will be somehow shipped fully assembled from half the world away in Japan to the DR?!?!??
And just so you know: Mercedes Benz sold cars in the DR by having a sales rep visit you at your own home, with a full catalog of their vehicles. Fabric samples of the interior, color samples in metal tags, leather samples and even trims that you could pick for you car, to choose from. Ah! And the sales rep drove a Mercedes wagon for kicks and storage of the support material.
Just so you know...