Kwang Yang Motor Co (光陽工業), which sells its products under the brandname KYMCO, yesterday unveiled a new electric sport scooter, dubbed F9, to target eco-conscious riders.
The F9 is the first electric scooter designed by the company from scratch, it said.
The nation’s biggest manufacturer of gas-powered scooters, Kwang Yang ventured into electric scooters about three years ago by remaking its gas-powered “Many” and “Nice” series into electric ones. At the time, the focus was mostly on its battery charging system, called Ionex.
Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times
“KYMCO’s all-new F9 model offers not only urban mobility, but also satisfies riders’ desire for a better steering experience,” company chairman Allen Ko (柯勝峰) told a global conference in Taipei.
The one-seat electric scooter performs better than a 150cc scooter, the company said, adding that most electric scooters sold on the local market are 125cc models, including those from Gogoro Inc (睿能創意).
The F9 is scheduled to hit the market next year, the company said.
Another electric motorcycle model, called RevoNEX, is to enter mass production at a factory in Italy, it added. Kwang Yang unveiled the concept vehicle at the Milan Motorcycle Show last year, targeting the global electric motorcycle market.
Aside from those two high-performance electric two-wheelers, Kwang Yang CEO Ko Chun-ping (柯俊斌) said the company is to roll out new electric scooters for the mainstream market in the near future.
The company also unveiled two new gas-powered motorcycles and one gas-powered scooter.
Thanks to tax incentives and purchase subsidies, Kwang Yang expects the domestic scooter market to rise 12.2 percent year-on-year to hit a 25-year high of 1.01 million units this year.
The COVID-19 outbreak has also stimulated demand, as people try to avoid mass transportation to reduce risks of contracting the virus, the company said.
“Government tax incentives and subsidies are the biggest drivers behind the growth,” Ko said. “Our shipments are capped by limited capacity. This year’s growth has greatly exceeded our expectations.”
As the Environmental Protection Administration is to stop subsidies for gas-powered scooters that meet its Phase 7 emissions standards from January, Ko said that scooter sales are expected to shrink by between 5 and 10 percent to between 900,000 and 950,000 units next year.
Kwang Yang expects its market share to climb to 34 percent this year from last year’s 33.4 percent, with total sales reaching 350,000 units.
Separately, Gogoro yesterday announced that China Motor Corp (中華汽車) is to join the “Powered by Gogoro Network,” making it the fifth member of the network.
Starting next year, China Motor is to offer new electric scooters under the company’s “eMoving” series that are equipped with batteries that riders can either recharge or swap for new ones.
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