Following the 4-letter-word naming convention of Kymco’s Like comes this flashy little number called the Many. Their marketing material clearly aims this scooter at the ladies (see video below) with it’s glittery, high fashion runway appeal but I think it’s kinda nice myself. Now, I don’t know what that says about me but I’d still give it a test ride.
Now, I wouldn’t expect the Many 100 Fi to show up at the Indy dealer Expo this weekend, not just because they don’t carry scooters in the 100cc category nor the fact that the Many is not listed in their 2010 line up but also because KymcoUSA isn’t going to have a booth there! Very disappointing. It seems like their booth presence has never fully recovered after their appearance in 2006 when they showed up with a boatload of ATVs and salesmen all dressed in Camouflage (I’m afraid that’s not a joke, sorry ). Demand in the ATV category took a nosedive that year and was replaced by the UTV, a trend that appears to still be intact.
Oh well, let me whisk you away to a sparkly land where your scooter matches your nail color and your seat matches your handbag with the video below:
Come on guys! You can’t tell me that scoot wouldn’t look wicked in an old school matte black with red pinstripes. Maybe replace that blue led badge with red?
Oh, another one I’d like to see in the USA is the Kymco Downtown 300i (called the Nikita 300 in Taiwan). That’s a pretty sexy maxiscooter! And according to their video, it is tough enough to withstand the wrath of god while being smooth enough for picking up the ladies.
11. February 2010 at 12:44 pm
The 300 downtown should be here for 2011 models. They said hopefully in September/October time. They came by and let us ride one a couple of weeks ago and it rides really nice and performance all around.
11. February 2010 at 1:49 pm
I would like to see the new 700cc here in the USA.
15. February 2010 at 4:01 pm
I *wish* they brought the Many here! I saw tons of them in Taiwan and they were looked sweet.
22. February 2010 at 9:20 am
MORE models? Frankly, Kymco really needs to pare down their lineup here in America; between all the Agilitys, Stings, Sentos, Yagers, Grandvistas, Xcitings, Likes, Supers and about 5 different Peoples, it’s daunting for a dealer to stock them all and overwhelming to the consumer. If the market was hotter it might be a different story, but for now they need to decide who they are (in the US at least) and stick to it.
Oh, and rename the Like. Geez…
23. February 2010 at 10:39 pm
Hey WRCz! No, you are absolutely right! I don’t think they should just tack this scooter on their lineup… I can think of a few they could trim out to make room for something in the 100cc range.
I think, in the USA, that the Taiwanese companies should trim down to 4 or 5 models each… They should stick to models that are exceptional and somewhat unique in their class. Take SYM for example; I think the Mio, Symba, HD200, RV250 would cover them just fine… ok, maybe with the Wolf 150 in there for good measure. But the Symphony, RV200, and RV300i they were showing at Dealer Expo 2009? Not needed.
18. March 2010 at 3:14 am
Hi Steve, We have been informed that this model will have Kymco’s 100cc DI 2 stroke engine. We have been trying to get Kymco’s DI 100cc for some time, finally looks like it may happen.
Cheers
26. April 2010 at 4:14 pm
Well I’ll tell you its better to have a more selection of Kymco’s vs less. Customers in the US are a picky bunch thus the need for a greater selection.Frankly Iv’e never heard someone say theres to many scoots to choose from???
30. April 2010 at 8:37 am
No, from a consumer standpoint there are never enough choices; but from a “scooter business in the USA” standpoint it doesn’t make sense to just drag over every item from your Asian line up. Here we sell a tiny fraction of the scooters of other places like Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia and China. If we carried the whole line up, we’d have to pay to have each one homologated to US standards (EPA, CARB, DOT) stock parts for each color of each model. We’d have to provide support for each one, we’d have to market each one AND we’d have to convince dealers to carry a couple of each.
In our market, at least right now, it makes more sense to carry just a few… maybe one from each class (50cc, 100-150cc, 200cc, 250+cc) and make sure they are the best damn scooters in that class with the best damn support available. You want dealers to feel tingly when they say your brand name. In 2008, Carter Bro / SYM-USA made the “expansion mistake” by moving beyond the quality core products they carried and diving into a boatload of subpar bikes. Sure, this expanded line up might help drop prices a tad and boost their revenue; but without a focus, consumers (and dealers) have a hard time falling in love with the products.
Thanks for your feedback Paul!