KYMCO - Chinese or not? By Mike Florek (Read 8,009 times)

[Mike Florek]

My local Kymco dealer is such a hater of Chinese scooters. Having owned many over the last 5 years, I resented exaggerated remarks made during my recent visit. The salesman looked shocked when I told him the people of Taiwan spoke Chinese. He said I was mistaken, they spoke Taiwanese.

Being me, I researched Taiwanese and found he was also right.

The language most spoken in Taiwan is Hokkien, or "Taiwanese" for short. Hokkien is a topolect of the Chinese family of languages. The second most spoken is Mandarin.

My advice . . . Kymco - let your product stand on its merits not on the heads of others.

[JR]

Good Point Mike and Kymco is a wonderful scooter no matter what language they speak!

JR

[kz1000st]

Then tell your dealer that the Kymco Super 8, Super 9 and Agility are built in Kymco's China plant to keep costs down.

[yoster]

The Like 200i as well - a "made in china" sticker right on it...

[loganhes]

My 150cc Super 8 is made in Chna and I have no problems telling anyone. It is still an awesome scoot and I love it!!!


--Jim

[bobf]

Back in the 1950's there were some foreign imports. Some were laughed at and others that nobody wanted to work on. So the maker of those that were laughed at opened up its own series of dealers and shops and eventually ended up with new designs. VW is doing pretty well these days.

Also there was another foreign company that came here with some rather basic looking designs. One was sort of like a jeep, had a large steel panel under it for off road driving. There was also a small size sedan 4 door with some basic features like a shelf under the dash. They too were snubbed by the US people and dealer and shop networks. Now they are really doing great. Toyota is one of the premier cars now sold in the US.

Both of those cars came through a very difficult period with names like foreign junk, made from beer cans, lousy designs, I won't touch them. In time though folks noticed the US cars were real oil dripping machines while the foreign made were making sure they stayed dry. Buyers started shifting. New plants were built in the US. Much respect earned with quality of design and manufacturing and at first low cost. Today they stand alone on merit and the low cost is no longer the magnet. The US manufacturers learned a lot from our foreign builders.

As far as I can tell the popular brands from Taiwan or Japan depend a lot on China for manufacturing those scoots, engines, or supplies. Their popular place comes from some good quality controls and customer satisfaction with service and marketing efforts.

Any hope for off brand scooters? Yes. Just as soon as importers decide to improve customer satisfaction with better service arrangements and the scooter shops become less restrictive on what they will work with.
.

[yoster]

Comparison is a bit different. China is already known for bad quality, they've proven that. It's due to varying standards - NO standard really. Other countries have safety standards, design standards, consumer protection agencies (agencies that brought us things like the lemon law, among others.) China has none of this - it's up to the design standards imposed upon them by the company purchasing their services. Because of that, China products can be VERY hit and miss. Until that changes, they're going to have a bad rep. You can look at a product, see it's "Made and Japan" or "Made in the USA" and that usually in itself is enough to tell you, "ok, it must be decent enough. It's PROBABLY a safe purchase." If it's made in China, you are almost required to do some research before purchase.

Until that sick and corrupt Chinese government changes, I don't see their 'made in China' reputation changing either. China isn't exactly known for imposing any quality (whether it's of product or of life) standards. It's of particular interest over the last 12 months to me as we've had a few people from China hired here at my company. The stories (which you'll NEVER hear on the news, Internet, etc) make me absolutely sick.

[blueboy5000]

Technically a Kymco is a Taiwanese company. Yes some of their bikes are made in China.

But, Kymco are leagues better than China Bombs. My Kymco Yup 50 2t has 10,000 miles on it and still runs like a beast!

[kz1000st]

Not all Chinese products are bombs. There are numerous examples of well built Chinese products. This is one of them. CF Moto builds some quality products as many people have topped 10,000 miles with little or no trouble. The E-Charm had fuel injection before all the 150cc scooters that Kymco and SYM build did. It's fairly evident that Kymco builds a good product but at twice to three times the cost of Chinese scooters they ought to.

[terrilee]

"Chrissy" has a sticker right on the instrument clusterthat says "MADE IN CHINA"
i brag about that fact to anyone that looks at her
and says she's a sharp looking scoot & asks about fuel, mileage etc etc
Like ive been saying she's about to hit 8K.{ there would be tons more but sorta been scared to get caught ridding her w/o a license}
and again i have to point out that
she was built at the
SHANGHAI SCHENKE MOTORCYCLE COMPANY LTD. in Shanghai, China.
this company must have had managers, supervisors, etc
that cared about quality control etc etc.
Now im not sure about the oil, brake fluid, gear oil.
Im not sure if she was shipped with quality fluids,
or if the original owner changed it all.
But after meeting the guy, and the fact that she only had 41 miles on her, i REALLY dont think he changed 'em. SO......

When all this legal crap is over i will be looking for more scoots
and i will DEFIANTLY be looking for Shanghai Schenke's.

Oh i'll be looking for kymco's or EFI equipped scoots etc
bigger wheels would be nice also.
But if i run across any 50's or 150's Schenke's
they will be bought gone over with a fine tooth comb
{ well best i can LOL} and sold.
my .02 cents

[pgorevivedme]

My scoots from Taiwan but that bitch always gets her way when this season comes imma tear DAT ass up! Lol love her to death that's my second wife.

My wife tear shit up when she can't get her way and my scoot flicks you off when you admire others.

[808brodey]

I own a kymco agility 50cc and she was made in China there is no compression to say a Chinese pronto to the kymco just because made in China kymco still has its standards,dame well made bikes my kymco