Some 30 motorcycles of a variety of designs carrying the Kymco label were among the brightest stars at the World Motorcycle Exposition held recently in Rome.
After 10 years of efforts in Italy, Kuang Yang Motor Company (光陽), Taiwan's largest motorcycle manufacturer, has made deeper inroads into Italy -- one of the world's top motorbike makers and the largest motorbike market in Europe, with annual sales exceeding 30,000 units last year, said Cheng Hsien-cheng (鄭仙正), a vice president of the Kuang Yang operations in Rome.
It is estimated that the number of Kymco motorcycles sold in Italy will increase to some 45,000 units annually in the coming years, according to a widely circulated Italian motorcycle magazine.
Kymco motorbikes now constitute around 7 percent to 8 percent of Italy's entire motorcycle market of about 600,000 units a year, the magazine said. With sales in Italy for the first eight months of this year topping NT$1.3 billion (US$38 million), sales for this year are expected to reach NT$1.5 billion (US$44 million), overseas sales manager Yang Ching-wen (楊錦文) said.
In cooperation with the Italian advertising firm Padana Ricambi SPA, Kuang Yang has spent five years exploring the Italian market and gaining popularity. Now, the Taiwanese company maintains 300 direct sales points and 150 indirect marketing spots nationwide, Yang said.
According to Stefan Gianotti, Kuang Yang's marketing partner in Italy, Kymco is gaining increasing popularity in Italy because of high quality, innovative designs and good after-sales service.
Bikes with engines 150cc or smaller have been the best-selling models in Italy, Cheng said, adding that these small models have been increasingly sought after by Italian riders, particularly young men, despite competition from counterparts from Greece or China, which are usually less expensive than the Kymco motorcycles. To gain market share, Kuang Yang is also preparing to break into the heavy-motorcycle market with 750cc models or larger, Cheng noted.
Kuang Yang maintained technical cooperation with Japan's Honda Motor for 33 years before starting up its own manufacturing and design departments more than 20 years ago. It now commands about 35 percent of Taiwan's entire motorcycle market of about 1 million units per year, according to Cheng.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS