Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), an electric scooter and battery network supplier, yesterday said it has signed an agreement with Castrol Holdings to form a joint venture, aimed at making inroads into the Vietnamese electric scooter market, leveraging the British oil company’s local market knowledge.
The joint venture is an essential part of Gogoro’s turnaround efforts by streamlining its overseas expansions and product portfolio, acting chief executive officer Henry Chiang (姜家煒) told an annual media gathering in Taipei.
Gogoro’s goal is to reach a break-even point for its battery business next year and turn a profit in 2028 on a consolidated basis, he said.
Photo: CNA
For the full year last year, Gogoro reported a wider net loss of US$123.2 million, compared with a net loss of US$76 million in 2023.
Regarding its electric scooter business, Gogoro plans to reduce its product lines to five and optimize its platform to shorten development cycles in response to customers’ purchasing behaviors, he said.
On the overseas expansion, Gogoro is making a strategic shift to concentrate its resources on one overseas market at a time, Chiang said.
In addition, Gogoro would team up with local partners to build a foothold, he said, adding that Castrol is a suitable candidate as it has built a strong presence in Vietnam.
That is a major shift in the company’s overseas expansion strategy as Gogoro has been ambitiously trying to create the whole supply chain overseas, aiming to duplicate its domestic success, Gogoro said.
“We now want to play a key role. We do not have to be all-around,” Chiang said.
Under the agreement with Castrol, Gogoro would be responsible for the development of electric scooters and providing battery solutions, while Castrol would handle major business decisions and operation of the joint venture, he said.
The Vietnam project is just the first step, he said, adding that 3 million two-wheelers are sold in Vietnam yearly.
The company is eyeing the massive Southeastern Asia market, which is forecast to grow at an annual rate of 30 percent from this year to 2030, Chiang said, citing a McKinsey & Co forecast.
“Southeastern Asia is a market Gogoro cannot miss out on,” he said. “The electric-vehicle market is taking shape there.”
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS