The 25-year-old was excited, and he did not want to waste any time. He was on his way to a very special event, one which he had been eagerly anticipating for months: the Taiwan International Motorcycle Industry Show put on by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council, held Oct. 27-29 at the Taipei World Trade Center.
"I like scooters a lot, not because I cannot afford a car, but simply because I enjoy the feeling of letting the wind sweep across my cheeks," Guo admitted. "So, this show really, really impressed me with so many fashionable, state-of-the-art, rare scooters on display," said the amateur scooter racer who works at his uncle's factory.
Guo is one of the many crazed fans of scooters in Taiwan who attended the show--the first of its kind in the country. It was held to highlight the manufacturing capabilities of Taiwanese companies who make scooters, parts for scooters and all-terrain vehicles, and 150 exhibitors showed up to man more than 300 booths.
Organizers hoped the show would "help Taiwan's scooter, parts and accessory businesses tap the international markets," said Taitra President Chao Yung-chuan. It also served as an opportunity to talk about the past, present and future of the scooter industry in Taiwan.
In a small and densely populated country, cars are not always the best mode of transportation, and Taiwan is known for the ubiquity of its many scooters, which fill the streets, weaving through traffic and making the cities run. There are still relatively few bona fide motorcycles on the streets of Taiwan, due largely to the exorbitant price tag and regulations that make it difficult for enthusiasts to ride them legally. Still, the motorcycle's smaller cousin, the scooter, has for the past four decades been as much a part of Taiwanese life as stinky tofu and karaoke.
Due to this overwhelming reliance on the two-wheeled conveyances, the scooter business has developed into a full-blown industry over the past half century. When once it was reliant on imported technology, now it enjoys a 95-percent local-content rate and is expanding into overseas markets. To date, Taiwanese manufacturers have been generally restricted to the manufacture and assembly of scooters with engine sizes below 150cc. Some of these have even been exported to Japan, the home of the very manufacturing technologies that are employed in Taiwan.
According to the Taiwan Transportation Vehicle Manufacturers Association, 2004 was the first year that exports exceeded domestic scooter sales. In 2005, scooter exports dropped in the face of stiff competition from other countries in the region, such as China. Despite this setback, Taiwanese scooter manufacturers gained a foothold in the global market for their 50cc, 125cc and 150cc scooters, which is not to say they have ignored the domestic and international markets for bikes over 150cc.
The Taiwanese scooter industry can trace its roots back to 1961, when the ROC government under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek forbade motorcycle imports. Local trading houses, therefore, got around this restriction by importing parts. One such company was Kong Hsue Sheh Trading Co. Ltd., the local distributor of scooters made by Japan's Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. It was also the predecessor of Yamaha Motor Taiwan Co. Ltd., which today is the nation's second-largest scooter manufacturer.
In the period between 1961 and 1980, foreign technology was introduced into the local market, mostly from Japan. This prompted domestic companies to start manufacturing components. Established in 1961, Taiwan's third-largest scooter manufacturer Sanyang Industry Co. Ltd. was the first local scooter-maker to benefit from technology transfers from Japan's Honda Motor Co. Ltd. Honda also helped SYM's competitor, Kwang Yang Motor Co. Ltd., get on its feet in 1963, and today, Kymco is the nation's largest scooter manufacturer.
In those days, it was not unusual for Japanese parent corporations to do business with several Taiwanese companies at once, thus improving their bargaining position and keeping their options open. Both SYM and Kymco made scooters for Honda, while Tai Ling Motor Co. Ltd., which also opened in 1963, did likewise for Suzuki Motor Corp. By 1966, YMT had a contract with its own Japanese partner and began to manufacture components and assemble Yamaha scooters.
In those days, the ROC government heavily regulated the local content rate for scooters. In 1962, scooters had to be at least 30-percent Taiwanese, a figure which shot up to 80 percent by the 1980s. It was not long before Taiwanese manufacturers had learned enough from their Japanese partners and they began manufacturing their own models. In the years following 1991, local companies began divesting themselves of their technological reliance on Japanese firms and started launching their own brand names in an attempt to tap the domestic market while making forays into overseas markets as well.
Kwang Yang started using the Kymco brand name to manufacture its distinctly Taiwanese scooters in 1992. It severed ties completely with Honda in 1997. Likewise, Sanyang created the SYM brand, and in 1995 became the first domestic scooter manufacturer to go public.
"We still maintain a joint venture model with our Japanese partner, with 51 percent share from Japan and 49 percent from Taiwan," said Huang Wen-che, YMT marketing manager.
To some observers, it seems that Taiwan is already home to more scooters than necessary. According to the "2006 Vehicle Industry Yearbook" published by the Department of Industrial Technology under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, there were more than 10 million scooters and motorcycles registered in Taiwan in 1997. That worked out to 295 motorcycles per square kilometer.
"Even though the local market is close to the saturation point, we still keep coming up with new models to expand the market," said Tai Ling Manager Yang Lin-de.
As more and more scooter drivers buy cars or start taking public transportation, local manufacturers have started to feel the pinch. They have generally reacted by trying to expand their overseas exports, marketing vehicles with 180cc, 250cc and 300cc--considered "big bikes," in Taiwan--for sale in other markets.
"Selling these big bikes to foreign countries is inevitable, because on the one hand, large heavy-duty motorcycle riders in Taiwan do not have the same road rights as those in foreign countries. On the other hand, large motorcycle models are not suitable for Taiwan's small, densely-populated streets," said Jhan Yuan-chun, who for the past 30 years has owned a scooter shop in Lujhou.
"In my personal opinion, 100cc scooters will be the mainstream, general-purpose model to appeal to the vast majority of Taiwanese riders," he said.
In 2004, Taiwan was the fifth-largest scooter manufacturer in the world, following China, India, Indonesia and Japan. It had only about 4 percent of global market share, however, as it was faced with obstacles such as cheap imports and new emission standards.
Taiwanese scooter makers had to turn their focus again, this time to the production of specialty vehicles like ATVs and bikes with jet engines. The former is not a technological problem at all to Taiwanese manufacturers, although the latter presents something of a challenge. "Still, it takes several years to overcome the problems that face jet engines," explained Jhan.
Soaring oil prices and a growing public sensitivity to environmental protection have prompted some manufacturers to start examining the feasibility of commercializing an electric scooter.
"The problem of battery durability, as used in electric scooters, is the most critical and has not been effectively overcome so far," said Tian Bo-jhih of EVT Technology Co. Ltd. Speaking at an Oct. 1 forum, Tian was quoted as saying that, once these technological problems are solved, electric scooters will make a big splash, not only among local manufacturers looking to export, but also with environmentalists and other people who care about mother nature. People like Guo.
Not only is he an avid fan of scooters, Guo cares deeply about the environment of his native Taiwan. His attitude on reconciling these two passions is pragmatic.
"Since we cannot live without motorbikes, why not make environmentally friendly ones?" he asked.