Market Sizing: Electric two-wheelers in Southeast Asia

Consulting
easy25 min0 submissions
McKinsey
Scenario

Otter Payments is considering launching electric two-wheelers in Southeast Asia and needs a defensible estimate of the annual market before committing to a business plan.

There is no reliable published market research for this category in Southeast Asia. You have roughly 211 million people in the addressable region, a broadly typical income distribution for the geography, and no proprietary data.

The investment committee does not expect precision. It expects a number it can interrogate, with every assumption visible and challengeable.

Supporting data
noteNo published market data. Estimate from first principles.

context

product
electric two-wheelers
geography
Southeast Asia
addressable population millions
211
Your task

Estimate the annual market size for electric two-wheelers in Southeast Asia. Provide:

  1. Analysis — your structure, assumptions and arithmetic.
  2. Risks — which assumptions your answer is most sensitive to.
  3. Recommendation — your estimate, as a range, and how you would validate it.

State every assumption. Round aggressively — precision here is false comfort.

Ready to move forward? Up next: Should Corveta Motors Enter Brazil?Next question
How you'll be graded

100 points, 60% to pass.

  • structure30
  • arithmetic20
  • assumptions30
  • sense check20
Hint
Reveal suggested structure

Bottom-up is usually more defensible:

Population → filter to the relevant buying unit (households, businesses, vehicles) → penetration rate → purchase frequency or replacement cycle → average price → annual market value.

Then cross-check top-down: total category spend in the geography × the share this product could represent.

If the two land within a factor of two, the estimate is usable. If not, one assumption is wrong — find it.