Gogoro Inc (睿能創意) yesterday unveiled a cheaper model of its electric scooter and cut prices on other models by as much as 23.43 percent in a bid to boost sales and to expand its user base in Taiwan.
“I have received a lot of feedback from consumers. They said they love Gogoro, but the prices are too high. The new prices make them more affordable,” Gogoro cofounder and chief executive officer Horace Luke (陸學森) told a news conference in Taipei.
Under the Taiwanese start-up’s revised pricing scheme, its highest-end model, Gogoro Plus, is NT$108,000 per scooter, 21.73 percent less than the initial price of NT$138,000.
Photo: CNA
The standard version is NT$98,000 per scooter, 23.43 percent less than the original price of NT$128,000.
The newly unveiled Gogoro Lite scooter is NT$88,000, the company said.
“As consumers can apply for a subsidy of up to NT$26,000 from the government for electric scooters, they only need to spend NT$62,000 to get a Gogoro Lite,” Luke said.
For consumers who purchased a Gogoro scooter before the price cuts, the company is to refund the difference, Luke said.
Gogoro sold about 1,000 electric scooters since it started to ship the products in August.
Gogoro chief marketing officer Peng Ming-i (彭明義) said 84 percent of buyers were individual consumers and 16 percent were from enterprises.
“Lowering the prices could help us enlarge Gogoro’s consumer base in Taiwan,” Peng said, adding that the new prices appear more attractive.
When asked if the new prices would cover Gogoro’s manufacturing costs, Peng said the company could get cheaper prices from supply chains once it receives large orders from consumers.
“A significant amount of consumers could eventually help us reduce manufacturing costs,” he said.
In a bid to expand their local market, Peng said the company plans to move beyond Taipei and set up battery-swapping stations in Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Keelung before the end of the year.
After several years flying high as Asia’s best Nvidia Corp proxy, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is increasingly vying with other artificial intelligence (AI) stocks for investor attention. Stock traders are chasing a wider array of beneficiaries as mainstream usage of AI creates demand for hardware beyond the most-advanced chips TSMC makes for Nvidia. Subthemes from the deepening memory crunch to advances in robotics are also luring bids. At the same time, investment caps on single stocks are pushing funds to diversify, while retail investors long familiar with TSMC through its US depositary receipts are being offered a broader set of
UNDER MICROSCOPE: Taiwan detained three people who allegedly conspired to buy servers in Taiwan and export them using fraudulent documentation, prosecutors said Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Saturday urged Super Micro Computer Inc to tighten up on compliance after Taiwan detained three people this week for allegedly making fraudulent declarations about artificial intelligence (AI) servers made by its US partner. The development marked the nation’s first crackdown on semiconductor smuggling, which grew after the US slapped restrictions on exports of high-end chips such as Nvidia AI accelerators to China. Nvidia is “rigorous” in explaining regulations to all of its partners, Huang told reporters after arriving in Taipei. “Ultimately Super Micro has to run their own company,” he said in response to
Netherlands-based semiconductor equipment supplier ASML Holding NV yesterday said that it is planning to hire an additional 1,000 people in Taiwan this year in response to growing demand from clients. ASML had previously planned to recruit 600 people this year, but that the plan has been adjusted upward, ASML vice president and ASML Taiwan general manager Grace Wang (汪佳慧) told reporters. ASML has a workforce of more than 4,500 in Taiwan, accounting for about 10 percent of its global total, Wang said. This year’s recruitment campaign would focus on adding people in the customer support, manufacturing and supply chain domains to assist ASML
TECH RELIANCE: Growth is increasingly reflecting an unequal K-shaped distribution, where technology sectors outperform and other industries struggle, an expert said Standard Chartered Bank has significantly raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth to 9.5 percent this year, up from 7.6 percent previously, citing surging artificial intelligence (AI) demand driving exports, semiconductor production and investment. The upgrade reflects a sustained AI supercycle that continues to fuel demand for advanced chips and technology infrastructure, which form the backbone of Taiwan’s exports, the bank said in a report this week. “We raise our 2026 growth forecast to reflect a much stronger-than-expected first-quarter GDP figure,” Standard Chartered senior economist for greater China and Asia Tommy Wu (胡東安) said in the report. Driven largely by a 35.3 percent
RSS