Taiwan electric scooter firm Gogoro delaying China expansion

Gogoro

11/11/2022 08:53

TAIPEI, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Taiwanese electric scooter
maker Gogoro Inc  GGR.O  is delaying its expansion plans in
China due to geopolitical and economic uncertainty there and
putting more focus on India and Indonesia, its chief financial
officer told Reuters on Friday.
    As well as making its own vehicles, Gogoro has electric
battery and other partnerships with vehicle makers including
India's Hero MotoCorp  HROM.NS  and China's Dachangjiang Group
and Yadea Group Holdings  1585.HK . 
    Gogoro, known for its green-hued battery swap distribution
network for riders, has ambitious plans, seeing potential to
replace vast fleets of heavily-polluting, gasoline-powered
scooters with electric two-wheelers as Asia's metropolises bid
to improve air quality. 
    Gogoro's CFO Bruce Aitken said that while almost all their
revenue was currently generated in Taiwan, they are looking to
diversify internationally, with the biggest market for
two-wheelers being China, India and Indonesia. 
    But with China - whose economy has slowed because of
repeated lockdowns to control COVID-19 and where Beijing is
locked in trade and political disputes with Washington - "there
are all the geopolitical issues, there are all the China
macroeconomic issues," Aitken said.
    "There's so much uncertainly, I think I would say, with
regards to the China market in general that we're delaying our
expansion plans until we have a bit more certainty and a bit
more viability into what follows," he said.
    "We're taking an optimistic but cautionary kind of a
perspective with regards to a further roll out in China as a
result of the current situation there." 
    With China being a challenging place, Gogoro is looking at
its plans elsewhere, Aitken said. 
    "India and Indonesia therefore become very appealing
marketplaces." 
    But the company does not expect more significant
international income until 2024 and beyond, he said.
    In Taiwan, Gogoro has a partnership with Foxconn  2317.TW ,
best known for assembling Apple Inc  AAPL.O  iPhones but with
its own huge electric vehicle ambitions. 
    Aitken said there was potential to do a lot more with
Foxconn, whose EV plans do not include two-wheelers at present,
concentrating instead on sedans, buses and trucks. 
    "We do not have aspirations right now, specifically, to get
into the four-wheeled space ourselves, so there's no competition
there." 
 (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Tom Hogue)
 ((ben.blanchard@thomsonreuters.com;))