Ducati is an Italian motorcycle-manufacturing company that is part of the Ducati group, and is headquartered in Bologna, Italy. The company is directly owned by Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini, whose German parent company is Audi, itself owned by the Volkswagen Group.
Piaggio & C. SpA is an Italian motor vehicle manufacturer, which produces a range of two-wheeled motor vehicles and compact commercial vehicles under seven brands: Piaggio, Vespa, Gilera, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Derbi, and Scarabeo. Its corporate headquarters are located in Pontedera, Italy. The company was founded by Rinaldo Piaggio in 1884, initially producing locomotives and railway carriages.
Moto Guzzi is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer and the oldest European manufacturer in continuous motorcycle production.
Kymco is a Taiwanese motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. With approximately 3000 employees, Kymco produces over 570,000 vehicles annually at its factory in Kaohsiung. The company also has production facilities in Indonesia, Malaysia, and PR China.
Cagiva is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer. It was founded in 1950 by Giovanni Castiglioni in Varese, originally producing small metal components. Giovanni's sons, Claudio and Gianfranco Castiglioni, went into the motorcycle industry in 1978. The name is a portmanteau derived from the founder's name 'Giovanni Castiglioni' and the founding location, i.e. CAstiglioni GIovanni VArese.
Malaguti is an Italian bicycle, scooter and motorcycle company based in San Lazzaro di Savena, founded by Antonino Malaguti in 1930. Producing bicycles until 1958, they then entered the motorcycle market. Noted for their use of small engines in their bikes. In October 2011, Malaguti laid off its remaining employees in Bologna, Italy as the company eventually folded.
Hero MotoCorp Limited is an Indian multinational motorcycle and scooter manufacturer headquartered in New Delhi. The company is one of the largest two-wheeler manufacturers in the world, as well as in India, where it has a market share of about 37.1% in the two-wheeler industry. As of 27 May 2021, the market capitalization of the company was ₹59,600 crore (US$7.5 billion).
Laverda was an Italian manufacturer of high performance motorcycles. The motorcycles in their day gained a reputation for being robust and innovative.
Miguel Galluzzi is an industrial designer specializing in motorcycle design. Galluzzi currently heads Piaggio's Advanced Design Center (PADC) in Pasadena, California, where he manages the design of the Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Derbi and Gilera motorcycle brands, working closely with the company's styling headquarters in Italy as well as its research and development centers in China, India and Vietnam.
Electric motorcycles and scooters are plug-in electric vehicles with two or three wheels. Power is supplied by a rechargeable battery which drives one or more electric motors. Electric scooters are distinguished from motorcycles by having a step-through frame, instead of being straddled. Electric bicycles are similar vehicles, distinguished by retaining the ability to be propelled by the rider pedalling in addition to battery propulsion.
Pierre Terblanche is a South African motorcycle designer born on 6 November 1956 in Uitenhage, Eastern Cape. He started his career in advertising but felt the need to move into the design world. After moving to Germany and working with Volkswagen design, he worked at Cagiva's research center at San Marino under the direction of Massimo Tamburini. When Cagiva decided to sell Ducati to US-based Texas Pacific Group, Pierre Terblanche chose to follow Ducati. In December 2007, he left Ducati to pursue other interests, believing that he should be a designer and not a manager.
A scooter is a motorcycle with an underbone or step-through frame, a seat, and a platform for the rider's feet, emphasizing comfort and fuel economy. Elements of scooter design were present in some of the earliest motorcycles, and motor scooters have been made since at least 1914.
Glynn Kerr is a British-born motorcycle designer residing in California, who has specialised in motorcycle design for over thirty years. He has written for Bike India, Kicxstart (Netherlands), Motorcycle Consumer News (USA), Solo Moto Trienta (Spain), and Two Wheels (Australia). In 1981, Kerr undertook a BA Hons Degree in Industrial Design (Transport) in Coventry University. His designs have appeared on models by manufacturers BMW, Ducati, Honda, Triumph, Aprilia, Harley-Davidson, Kymco, Voxan, Kawasaki, Midual, Fisher and Bajaj.
Gogoro is a Taiwanese company that developed a battery-swapping refueling platform for urban electric two-wheel scooters, mopeds and motorcycles. It also develops its own line of electric scooters and offers its own vehicle innovations to vehicle maker partners like Hero, Yamaha, Aeonmotor, PGO, eReady, and eMOVING. Gogoro also operates GoShare, a rideshare service, in Taiwan and Ishigaki Island in Japan.
Niu Technologies is an electric scooter company headquartered in Beijing, China. Yan Li has been its CEO and COO since December 2017. Founded in 2014 by two ex-employees of Xiaomi, it is now one of the largest electric vehicle manufacturers in China. Early on, it differentiated itself by using lithium-ion batteries as opposed to the cheaper lead-acid alternatives widely used in Chinese e-scooters at the time. It had nearly $300M in revenue in 2019. As of November 2020, 98% of its sales were in China. In 2018, it was listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker NIU.
Vmoto is a manufacturer and distributor of electric motorcycles, based in Perth, Australia, with a manufacturing facility located in Nanjing, China.
Niutron is a Chinese electric car company founded by Niu Technologies co-founder Yan Li on December 15, 2021. The company is based in Beijing with its design center located in Shanghai.
