Kwang Yang Motor Co (光陽工業) plans to convert all 1,700 of its authorized dealers into hybrid outlets selling electric and gasoline-powered scooters within two years, it said yesterday, in an effort to challenge industry leader Gogoro Inc (睿能創意).
As the upgraded stores would also provide electric battery swapping stations and maintenance centers, Kwang Yang said it expects its battery swapping network to more than double in two years to about 4,300 locations from 2,600 now.
A majority of its Ionex-brand electric scooters are sold at specialized stores operated by Ionex Taiwan Co (台灣光捷), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kwang Yang.
Photo courtesy of Kwang Yang Motor Co
Most of Kwang Yang’s authorized distributors are eager to sell its electric scooters, as the electric vehicle trend gains momentum, company chairman Allen Ko told a media briefing in Taipei yesterday.
The market changes have never been so marked as in the past few years, he said.
“The hybrid stores would help boost the growth momentum of Index vehicles and broaden its service coverage,” Ko said. “It would also be a major step forward for the company as it seeks to be a double champion, in the gasoline-powered and electric scooter sectors, next year.”
Kwang Yang has set an ambitious goal to unseat Gogoro’s No.1 market position next year and reclaim its top position in the gasoline-powered scooter sector in the home market.
“We understand this is an uphill fight for us,” Ko said.
To reach that goal, Kwang Yang has to significantly expand its market share to between at least 25 and 30 percent, he said.
The company currently has about a 15 percent market share.
Kwang Yang last year outperformed local rivals in advancing its market share to about 7.2 percent from 3.1 percent in the previous year, selling 6,270 electric scooters. The market share of its closest competitor, Aeon Motor Co (宏佳騰), fell to 7.3 percent from 9.2 percent, while Gogoro’s market share dropped to 73.9 percent from 78.7 percent a year earlier.
Gogoro said it has deployed more than 2,500 battery stations with more than 12,000 cabinets, supplying 1.1 million batteries.
The electric scooter maker has about 540,000 Gogoro scooter riders under its Gogoro Network.
Given its smaller customer base, Kwang Yang adopted a different approach. It deploys mainly smaller battery stations, with each site offering five batteries rather than the at least 100 available at each of Gogoro’s stations.
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