KYMCO to follow Harley-Davidson’s lead, spin-off electric vehicles for IPO

KYMCO, the largest motorcycle and scooter manufacturer in Taiwan, says it is likely to spin-off its IONEX line of electric vehicles as a new public entity with an overseas IPO. The move would take a page out of Harley-Davidson’s book.

Back in the summer, Harley-Davidson announced that its single electric motorcycle, the Harley-Davidson LiveWire, would be spun off into its own startup known simply as LiveWire.

The bike itself became known as the LiveWire ONE, and now the new EV-only company has several more electric models in the works.

The new brand LiveWire recently announced that it would have its own IPO with the help of a major investment from KYMCO, joining parent company Harley-Davidson on the New York Stock Exchange.

KYMCO, also known as Kwang Yang, now seems interested in pulling a similar move of its own.

According to the Taipei Times, KYMCO Chairman Allen Ko explained the company’s plans:

“Kwang Yang has no plan to go public, but the company is likely to spin off its electric scooter division for an IPO. We might follow the model of Harley-Davidson Inc, which is to spin off its electric-motorcycle unit, LiveWire, to list the entity publicly.”

Ko explained that by separating the IONEX line of electric scooters, it would allow the company to better grow its own brand image worldwide and attract top talent to the company.

Both would be required if KYMCO is to catchup to its local electric scooter competition, Gogoro.

Gogoro and KYMCO both produce electric scooters and operate their own proprietary battery swapping networks, but Gogoro’s operations are significantly larger.

Not only does Gogoro handily outsell KYMCO in the electric scooter market, but the company’s batteries have been adopted as the energy storage platform of choice by leading manufacturers in huge two-wheeler markets such as China, India and Indonesia. Its batteries are even being adopted for non-EV use, such as powering off-grid infrastructure like smart parking meters. Gogoro’s success has led it towards its own IPO on the Nasdaq, a move that KYMCO has likely followed with interest.

KYMCO has spent several years developing interesting electric scooter and electric motorcycle concepts in an attempt to gain a lucrative piece of the rapidly growing electric two-wheeler pie.

The KYMCO SuperNEX electric sportbike concept raised eyebrows as a fast and tech-forward concept, while the KYMCO RevoNEX appeared to be the first electric motorcycle that KYMCO would actually bring to production.

KYMCO also unveiled its F9 electric scooter, which the brand hopes will become a fast, fun urban scooter that can compete with the likes of BMW’s CE 04 electric maxiscooter.

KYMCO has shown that it can develop fancy electric concepts, but perhaps a dedicated electric spin-off will help the manufacturer play catch up in a quickly advancing market where mere concepts aren’t enough to truly snatch up market share.

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