Europeans colonized the world long ago, and their cultural influence still reverberates. In the automotive sense, the continent is the hotspot of automotive design and chassis engineering. But something is amiss lately. China's rise is making Europe irrelevant.
Yesterday, India-based Ultraviolette revealed two upcoming products - Tesseract and Shockwave - and drew a roadmap for its intended future lineup. We see not just the new products, but also a startup willing to embark on a new business strategy, bits and pieces of which make us uncomfortable.
There are not too many publicly traded E2W and electric light mobility players. The ones that are have mostly been struggling. We last checked their health eight months back. Now, we check on them again and realize that things have taken a downturn for the worse.
At yesterday's court hearing, KTM creditors have accepted a restructuring plan proposed by the board. As part of the plan, nearly EUR 548m would be received by the creditors by end-May. India-based Bajaj Auto is bringing some of the money but there remains a larger investor yet to be named.
The company's overall revenue were down amidst slowly increasing battery swapping revenues getting pulverised by steadily declining scooter sales. A worsening product mix and an enhanced focus on commercial energy storage opportunities were some key takeaways from the annual results.
The Europe-focused Swappable Batteries Motorcycle Consortium (SBMC) was formed in September 2021 by Honda, Yamaha, KTM, and Piaggio. However, little has moved three years later, and the two Japanese founders have left. Is there a future for SBMC (and battery-swapping consortiums in general)?
Marketing is critical for technology creation. Without taking new tech to the masses, one cannot continue creating. Pathbreaking innovations - from Damon's hyper-optimized monocoques to Verge's Donut motor- often take time to reach the mass level. That limits their impact.
Late-entrant Honda shows no urgency in its India E2W play. Its Go-To-Market is linked with its battery-swapping network rollout. The problem is that three years after the start of the pilot, the Honda e-swap has reached only 1% of the population. Are they serious about India's E2W market?
UBCO was unique, and so was the two-wheel-drive motorcycle that they made. The receivership is a stark reminder of the perils of going too niche in a global E2W market that is yet to mature to create space for small players.
Pierer Mobility AG (KTM) has filed for judicial restructuring, a step away from bankruptcy. Sales is slow, marketshare is down, and they are sitting at manhy months of inventory. In the bigger picture, it indicates how fragile the European two-wheeler industry is.
On the face of it, Royal Enfield, the India-based British heritage ICE brand, should be the last brand to do an electric motorcycle. Yet, here they are with the Flying Flea, and electric motorcycles seem important to them. It is a need, not a luxury
Gogoro plunged into a crisis due to the Taiwanese government's enquiry into its claimed local sourcing of motor controllers on the Viva model. The Founder-CEO has resigned...
As ICE motorcycles embrace electronics, sensors, and rider-aids, it is becoming easier for new riders to handle speed. The various automatic transmissions entering the market further dumb down motorcycles. The motorcycling world may not realise but they are taking ICE closer to EVs
Often, in the haste to go electric, we force-fit electric mobility to the ecosystem. However, it should be the other way around, and the ecosystem should dictate the suitability of electric mobility. Once we do things the right way, Africa emerges as an unexpected shining star for E2Ws
The incumbents are reluctant and everyone else is not getting anywhere with large lifestyle electric motorcycles? What makes the equation so impossible? Is it just technology challenges compounded by half-hearted efforts or are we trying to force fit things before the core technology matures?
Vmoto reports a 32.5% dip in vehicle sales in FY 2024 and a 15.2% revenue decline. This was a year of major restructuring and expansion at the company as they head to an ASX delisting. However, the notice from a minority shareholder is a significant concern.
Vmoto reports a 32.5% dip in vehicle sales in FY 2024 and a 15.2% revenue decline. This was a year of major restructuring and expansion at the company as they head to an ASX delisting. However, the notice from a minority shareholder is a significant concern.
A net income of USD 32.5 million took us by surprise, considering that this is a company that is not yet making any significant revenue, if at all. In the end, the financial statement reveals less and hides more.
The company's overall revenue were down amidst slowly increasing battery swapping revenues getting pulverised by steadily declining scooter sales. A worsening product mix and an enhanced focus on commercial energy storage opportunities were some key takeaways from the annual results.
Data released by ACEM indicates that the penetration of electric two-wheelers declined for the first time since 2019.
Zapp Electric, the UK-based, Thailand-manufactured, Nasdaq-listed manufacturer of the i300 super-scooter, has finally started turning revenue as it starts sales in Thailand and the UK. Global markets will follow soon.
At yesterday's court hearing, KTM creditors have accepted a restructuring plan proposed by the board. As part of the plan, nearly EUR 548m would be received by the creditors by end-May. India-based Bajaj Auto is bringing some of the money but there remains a larger investor yet to be named.
The E2W startup scene in Indonesia is slow, with penetration levels still at <2%. Most volumes are cornered by traders who import Chinese IP, cheap scooters. However, we saw plenty of startup action at the Indonesia International Motor Show (IIMS)
The company's full-year sales numbers for 2024 are down 33% over 2023. Sales continue to fall in China and the rest of the world, even as the company stresses its positive cash flows and strong balance sheet and sales recovering in the near term horizon.
India-based Hero MotoCorp, the second-largest two-wheeler manufacturer in the world, announced a management reshuffle yesterday evening. The CEO and CBO have been replaced. Most importantly, Hero is separating its EV & Emerging Mobility Business Unit (EMBU) into a fully independent entity.
The company launched what it says is the Gen-3 of its hardware and software platform that underpins the Ola S1 scooter range. However, it seems that the company has changed the definition of Gen-3 from the one that it had shared during its quarterly results on Nov 08, 2024
Honda's 50% market share of the Indian scooter market is handy as it enters electric mobility with the Activa e: and QC1 scooters. But the prices and the subscription plans leave everyone puzzled. They don't want to disrupt the market. Instead, Honda wants to take it apart, brick-by-brick.
Late-entrant Honda shows no urgency in its India E2W play. Its Go-To-Market is linked with its battery-swapping network rollout. The problem is that three years after the start of the pilot, the Honda e-swap has reached only 1% of the population. Are they serious about India's E2W market?
For electric mobility to be truly sustainable, battery recycling has to be a core requirement for participants. Honda and Spiro are at least making the right moves, figuring out in the early days how their batteries would be redeployed and recycled once their charge drops to below usable.
Pierer Mobility has reported preliminary key figures for 2024. As expected, revenues are down 29%, and dispatches to dealers declined by 21% even though the company says that inventory reduction is on. Importantly, Stefan Pierer has handed over the CEO responsibility to Gottfried Neumeister.
At this time, it's not much.
This week, we spoke to Dylan Brown, the enthusiastic motorcyclist behind New Castle, Colorado-based motorcycle startup Terra Bikes. Also, Hyundai-TVS Micro Mobility Concepts stunned everyone at the Bharat Mobility Global Expo in Delhi last week.
Electric mobility allows hundreds of brands to serve different flavors. After all, the joy of motorcycling should drive the industry. Last week, we sat down with Dylan Brown, the founder of Terra Bikes to check how the New Castle, CO-based startup plans to carve its niche.
Hyundai and TVS surprised everyone at the Bharat Mobility Global Expo by unveiling two electric micro-mobility concepts - a E3W and a E4W. Both are exploring a formal joint venture for the Indian market.
We transitioned to Ghost (Thank you and bye-bye Substack). Here is what we published in the last few days.
