CMC Delivers First Batch of 150 E-scooters to Germany

Taiwanese carmaker China Motor Corp., an affiliate of local Yulon Group, recently said its annual exports of locally assembled cars are expected to increase 40% to some 4,500 units this year.

In addition, CMC said it has delivered the first batch of 150 electric scooters to Germany, which is to become the most important market and regional distribution center for CMC's e-scooters in the future.

CMC leads the e-scooter market in Taiwan with about 80% market share, and is expected to export 500 to 1,000 e-scooters this year. According to CMC, the European e-scooter market is emerging with total annual sales volume of about 10,000 units, which is growing due to rising eco-consciousness there.

In Taiwan, CMC's GreenTrans has been the largest e-scooter brand over the past four years since the firm ventured into the business. To date, CMC has sold more than 18,000 e-scooters on the island, taking about 70% market share. With experience and know-how in e-scooter, CMC has been trying to export e-scooters and its successful business model to global partners, having exported its own line of e-scooters to Europe including the Netherlands, France, Germany and Denmark. It also targets to become the most important e-scooter vendor in the B2B (business to business) market in Europe by 2018 with market share of over 7.5%.

In March, CMC announced tying up with the Macau Parking Co., Ltd. and an e-scooter distributor association in Macau to jointly sell e-scooters to the government, and CMC's executives in April signed a distribution agreement in Stuttgart with its German general agent.

Industry sources said that the limited automobile market in Taiwan has been driving local auto assemblers to explore export opportunities.  Kuozui Motors Ltd., the local assembler of Toyota, is the largest car exporter on the island by supplying the Middle East through Toyota's sales channels.

CMC began exporting locally-assembled Mitsubishi Lancer Fortis sedans to the Middle East in 2013, when the annual export volume was 3,266 units, which this year may rise to  4,500 or 5,000 units.