Ionex, a subsidiary of Kymco, today (October 10th), announced three strategic initiatives for its "New Moment" initiative. These include progress on a youth public welfare project in partnership with Keelung City, the addition of 4-inch tires to the i-One series to reduce vehicle height, and the addition of color options more appealing to female drivers. Kymco also announced future development plans for the Ionex brand in Taiwan. These include expanding authorized dealerships with hybrid hybrid technology, adding more battery swap stations, and the release of more Ionex electric vehicles with richer smart features.
Regarding the youth charity project previously announced in cooperation with Keelung City, not only are two car models, the i-One City Edition and S6 Rex, available specifically for the city's terrain, the company also announced the opening of its first directly-operated store in Keelung, with four cooperating authorized dealerships providing car purchase and subsequent repair and maintenance services.
Currently, there are 30 Ionex battery swap stations in Keelung City, and plans are in place to continue expanding the number of stations and batteries as the number of Ionex vehicles in Keelung City increases.
Regarding market rumors that Keelung City has yet to allocate a budget for public welfare subsidies for electric vehicles for youth in 2024, Gwangyang explained that Keelung City has already allocated NT$3.6 million, and will continue to allocate additional funds even if the budget is depleted. Keelung City is also interested in Gwangyang's recently proposed "Ionex Intelligent Self-Service Rental" (ATR) solution, which aims to establish self-service electric two-wheeled vehicle rental stations at MRT stations, allowing residents and tourists to use electric vehicles and electric bicycles. Both parties will discuss the possibility of implementing this solution in Keelung City in the future.
For the previously launched i-One series models, this time it was announced that a 10-inch tire version will be launched, which allows the vehicle seat height to be reduced to 75 cm, allowing female owners to ride more safely. The front brake system has also been changed to a one-way dual-piston caliper design to provide higher braking force. In addition, two special color colors have been added to the body part. The i-One Fly has added new colors of Frost Silver and Bright Purple.
As for the previously proposed transformation strategy for hybrid hybrid authorized stores, Kymco said it has currently assisted 10 authorized stores in the transformation, and expects the number of authorized stores to reach 10 by the end of October this year, and aims to increase the number to 40 by the end of this year.
At the same time, as of August this year, there were 8 battery swap stations, which has now increased to 2600. Kymco said that the current density of battery swap stations is already higher than that of gas stations, so at this stage it will prioritize service improvement, but will continue to increase the number of battery swap stations in the future.
