Taiwan's Gogoro to enter India scooter market with Hero tie-up

Sanyang Motor Co

21/04/2021 11:00

TAIPEI, April 21 (Reuters) - Taiwanese electric scooter
maker Gogoro has partnered with India's Hero MotoCorp  HROM.NS 
to offer its battery-sharing infrastructure in the world's
largest motorcycle market, top company officials said on
Wednesday. 
    Gogoro, which sells motorcycles in Taiwan and known for its
battery distribution network for riders, will build battery
swapping platforms in India's scooter market in a joint venture
with Hero, the world's largest producer of two-wheelers. 
    The two companies will also launch Hero-branded two-wheelers
powered by Gogoro's battery sharing infrastructure, which would
be available in multiple cities in India.
    Hero chairman Pawan Munjal told Reuters in an interview
electric vehicles are one of the priorities for Hero, which
currently does not offer any products that run only on
electricity. 
    "We will set up a joint venture between the two companies to
bring Gogoro's swapping technology into India and set up
swapping infrastructure across the country, and then we will
take it to the rest of the world," Munjal said in a joint
interview with Gogoro founder and CEO Horace Luke.
    "We know the landscape, we know the customers, we know the
requirements ... We will move very, very fast," Munjal said,
referring to the company's position as the market leader in
India. 
    Munjal declined to provide details about the partnership
plans such as timeline, sales target or how many battery
swapping stations would be built, saying the two companies are
working on the specifics.       
    Partly funded by investors including Singapore's Temasek and
Japan's Sumitomo Corporation  8053.T , Taipei-based Gogoro in
recent years has launched scooter-sharing services in Europe and
battery sharing infrastructure in Japan.
    At home, albeit being the largest electric scooter maker,
Gogoro has for years trailed major players such as Kymco and
Sanyang Motor  2206.TW  in a competitive market long dominated
by lower-priced petrol scooters despite government subsidies on
electric vehicles, market data shows.
    Gogoro's Luke acknowledged the challenge, saying it would
take time for consumers to adopt electric vehicles. But with the
scale of Hero, he said, pricing and supply chain complexity
would be reduced. 
    "That certainly can change the market and flip the market
over," he said.    

 (Reporting by Yimou Lee; editing by Jason Neely)
 ((yimou.lee@thomsonreuters.com; +886-2-8729-5122;))