CMC's e-Scooter Market Share in Taiwan Exceeds 80% in Jan.-Aug.

2014/09/30 | By Quincy Liang

China Motor Corp. (CMC), an affiliate of Taiwan's Yulon Group that locally assembles automobiles and produces e-scooters, recently announced its goal of shipping 5,000 e-scooters in 2014.

In the first eight months of 2014, CMC's e-scooters won market share of over 80% in Taiwan. (photo from company's website)

CMC assembles Mitsubishi passenger cars and commercial vehicles, and is also the R&D and production arm of its own line of GreenTrans e-scooters and e-bikes for the Yulon Group.

In the first eight months of 2014, CMC sold 1,968 e-scooters in Taiwan, for more than 80% share in Taiwan's e-scooter market. CMC said it aims to sell in the last four months more than 3,000 e-scooters by focusing on Taiwan's offshore islands.

To promote adoption of e-scooters in Taiwan, the Taiwan Cabinet recently okayed a new subsidy program to eco-friendly two-wheelers sold on the island. To start October 1, 2014 and end in 2018, the program subsidizes NT$7,200 (US$240) each e-scooter sold in Taiwan passing the TES (Taiwan E-Scooter Standard) for small/light-type models, or NT$10,000 (US$333) for light models.

To effectively ramp up e-scooter sales volume on the offshore islands as part of the government's "green offshore island" plan, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) will also subsidize NT$9,000 (US$300) for small/light-type and NT$20,000 (US$666.7) for light-type e-scooters sold on such islets. Such subsidies will be lowered to NT$8,000 (US$267) and NT$18,000 (US$600), respectively, in 2017; and to NT$7,000 (US$233) and NT$16,000 (US$533) in 2018. So each e-scooter (light-type) can be subsidized up to NT$30,000 (US$1,000) on offshore islets to encourage such purchase.

Some 7,160 e-scooters were licensed in Taiwan, including those on offshore islands, in 2013, with CMC taking 52.4% market share or supplying 3,755 units. E-scooter sales in the first eight months this year were affected by the delayed announcement of new government subsidies, which will likely recover with the start of the new subsidies.

CMC says its e-scooters are predominantly popular at major tourism spots in Taiwan and on offshore islands, and plans to more aggressively develop sales to rental firms at scenic sports and corporate fleets.