Super Soco in Australia

In the update of 29/10/18, one of the bullet points on the first page of the announcement noted that Super Soco products were to be distributed in Australia by a group called Urban Moto Imports.

Over the past week or so, a number of industry websites have provided some more detail on this, reporting that Urban Moto will start selling Super Soco motorcycles directly in Australia starting from next year.

This extract is taken from one of the websites that reported the news late last week:

Urban Moto Imports will be the new distributor for Super SOCO electric motorcycles in Australia and New Zealand heading into 2019.

Super SOCO have already made a name for themselves with their award winning SOCO TS and SOCO TC, and a focus on intelligent design in transportation.

Starting out in early 2015 with ambitions to introduce new electric motorcycles to the world, Super SOCO now exports to 54 countries from a state of the art manufacturing facility with a goal of achieving 300,000 production units annually. Super SOCO is managed by manufacturing and distribution group, Vmoto Limited, which now specialises in electric powered two wheel vehicles.

The article also includes a quote from Charles Chen:

“We are very delighted to reached agreement with Urban Moto Imports, a very successful Australian premium motorcycle distribution company, to distribute Vmoto’s Super SOCO electric vehicle products in Australia and New Zealand markets. With Urban Moto Imports’ strong dealership network in Australia and New Zealand and its professionalism in the motorcycle industry, we are very excited and confident that the exceptional quality and design of Super SOCO electric motorcycles will be embraced and celebrated by consumers in Australian and New Zealand.”

According to the article, the group will be selling the Super Soco TC, TS and CU-X models.

In the past, many here have questioned as to why Vmoto didn't seem to make much of an effort selling their products here in Australia.

And it is a good point: if Vmoto motorcycles had more visibility in their country of origin, that would surely increase awareness of the stock as well.

So, now that the company is set to sell their products directly in Australia, hopefully that will lead to their products becoming more visible to the average person, and thus to more interest in this stock. Of course, it does depend somewhat on how much effort this group intends to put into marketing these Super Soco bikes.

Personally, I don't really hold out high hopes for the TC and the TS: As is noted on the Super Soco website, the top speed of these two bikes is 45 km per hour, and without a doubt many buyers will steer clear of these when they become aware of the 'low' top speed. (it is all relative, of course: to someone who had to rely on a horse to get about some hundred years ago, 45 km per hour would have seemed like lightning-speed. The quick power-boost provided by fossil fuels have transformed many of us into speed freaks.)

But I think the CU-X is a different story. When I first read about the CU scooter at the time of the launch early this year, I was quite impressed, even feeling the temptation to buy one myself, and I'm no spendthrift millionaire.

Essentially, the CU is a cheap electric moped. When you think about a low cost Chinese manufactured moped, you would expect to see something that is functional, mass produced, and with a clunky design.

But the CU confounds expectations, with high-tech features and a slick design. And based on earlier reports, it seems that they have managed to keep the price tag low, in the same ballpark as gadgets such as ipads or tablets.

I don't think anyone would really think twice before buying a Super Soco CU. It isn't like the TS and TC models, which look good at first glance but probably don't really live up to the expectations of most buyers when they take a closer look. The CU-X looks exactly like what it is.

So I hold high hopes for the CU-X model, but again, we need to wait and see if this product will be marketed effectively by both the company and, in the local market, by the people at Urban Moto.