Earlier this month, we broke the news that Segway was entering the electric powersports market with the brand’s first electric dirt bike.
That’s despite Segway developing its brand largely around its highly rated electric scooters over the last few years.
And as the pictures of Segway’s eDirt Bike began to come out, we and everyone else were left scratching our heads a bit.
“Isn’t that a Sur Ron electric bike?” asked many.
There was a lot of confusion swirling around, and apparently it became enough that Sur Ron issued a statement on the matter to answer questions.
Sur Ron or Segway? Both, apparently!
Sur Ron released the 45 mph (72 km/h) Light Bee electric bike nearly two years ago to high acclaim, and has since followed up with designs for larger and higher-powered 60-plus mph (100-plus km/h) electric motorcycles and dirt bikes like the White Ghost and Storm Bee.
As we previously reported, Segway is actually the largest shareholder in Sur Ron, and thus leveraged that relationship to help it enter the electric powersports market.
We spoke with Julie Tang, Segway’s director of marketing, about Segway’s eDirt Bike:
We are trying to continue developing cool products, futuristic products, in order to expand our portfolio to appeal to outdoor adventurers in addition to city dwellers. We want to keep expanding our existing customer base and give them more options.
Sur Ron then explained in a statement how they’ve helped Segway start that product line expansion, as well as how it’s beneficial to Sur Ron, creating a win-win situation for both companies:
“In 2019, Sur-Ron obtained the investment from Segway. With the independent operation, Sur-Ron was able to carry out cross brand product cooperation with the help of Segway’s brand channels and other resources. This is a win-win cooperation. Segway has enriched its product line at the market level. On the other hand, Sur-Ron can quickly transcend the limitations of ‘startup,’ develop into more professional fields, create a more comprehensive product matrix, and usher in its own rapid development period!”
At present, the first model of cooperation between Sur-Ron and Segway is the existing Sur-Ron ‘light bee,’ which redefined the cross-border electric motorcycle with an incomparable lightweight body and extremely strong trafficability and portability. It greatly reduces the threshold of starting, develops a new way of playing off-road motorcycles, and becomes a good partner while exploring and discovering new roads, so that everyone can enjoy the fun of off-road and exploration easily. In just two years, ‘light bee’ has entered into more than 32 countries and sold more than 10,000 sets.
In order to conform to Segway’s brand image and product tonality of ‘science and technology/sports/leading/innovation/nature,’ Segway’s version of light bee has made a customization of the whole vehicle coating, and with Segway’s own APP interconnection, and has advanced into the North America and China market with the new model number and name of ‘Segway’ brand.
And Sur-Ron’s version of ‘light bee’ will continue to be sold in the existing market and channels, and Sur-Ron will go on preparing and offer more optionals to better serve the loyal Sur-Ron fans. Meanwhile, we are also preparing to offer some surprises to all the Sur-Ron fans in 2020, if everything goes well.
Electrek’s Take
Would a Sur Ron by any other name ride as sweet?
Yes, I think it would.
So basically, here’s the rub. It looks like what we have here is one of those symbiotic relationships we all learned about in biology class.
Sur Ron got a big injection of cash from the Segway investment that helped take it to the next level (and probably played a big part in developing that awesome 68 mph (110 km/h) Sur Ron Storm Bee electric bike). And in return, Segway got majority stake in Sur Ron and a quick way to enter the electric powersports industry.
Now the two can leverage their skills together and do what each does best. Segway can market the hell out of these bikes and get them into stores, malls, driveways, and garages while Sur Ron can keep on developing high performance, low cost electric bikes and motorcycles that combine well-executed designs with quality that exceeds their price tags.
Seems like a winner to me.
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