Headquarted in Taiwan, a small island in East Asia that's officially administered as a province of the Republic of China, KYMCO stands for Kwang Yang Motor Co. Ltd.
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Jim Yang, Global Marketing Director. |
At the Montreal Motorcycle Show, we had the opportunity to meet with Jim Yang, Global Marketing Director at Kymco. We asked him to explain us what his company was all about. Here's what we have learned from our discussion.
Kymco was founded in 1963. Scooters represent about 70 percent of the total production, while ATVs and motorcycles account for 20 and 10 percent, respectively. The first Kymco-branded scooters were introduced in 1992. Today, the company builds ATVs for both Yamaha and Arctic Cat as well as motorcycle engines for BMW. In fact, Kymco engineers created BMW's latest motorcycle engine.
International marketKymco now owns assembly plants in Indonesia, India, China's mainland and Vietnam. Total production exceeded 6 million vehicles back in 1998.
In Europe, Kymco is the leader in terms of ATV sales. The company is well known in Germany, France and Italy -- 3 of 86 countries where Kymco is implemented. In addition to the domestic production, Kymco exports over 350,000 scooters and motorcycles, not to mention over 50,000 ATVs.
Quality firstThe Taiwanese manufacturer began by producing scooters, motorcycles and ATVs for Honda for about 10 years. Later, it became an expert in quality control, having developed its very own expertise throughout the years. In 1989, Kymco launched Phase 1 of a new R&D Center. A decade later, an additional research facility with test tracks was built. Today, 7 percent of the company's budget is invested in research. More than 400 people are working at the R&D center.
This focus on quality and development helped Kymco achieve ISO certification in numerous fields.
North American marketThe challenge in North America is to educate consumers on the benefits of using a scooter or motorcycle on a daily basis. While a 50-cc scooter is appropriate for short-distance city riding, purchasing and using 250-cc models should be further promoted as these units are more suited for medium- to long-distance travel and highway riding (think about commuters).
In Canada, Kymco products are distributed by Beco Motors Inc., a company run by the Heilman family, from Caledon, Ontario. This partnership started five years ago and still keeps expanding. Kymcos are sold in Canada since 2005.
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From left to right: Carol Ann Mandelic, Marketing and Customer Relations Director at Beco Motors; Gary Lee, Overseas Sales Director for Canada; Jim Yang, Global Marketing Director; Walter Heilman, President of Beco Motors; David Heilman, Canadian Sales Director; Sdant Cheng, North American Marketing Director; and Sabina Heilman, Finance Director, Beco Motors. |
Photo Credit : Amyot Bachand