Vmoto takes advantage of strong consumer demand to boost sales of electric scooters

Electric vehicle supplier Vmoto (ASX: VMT) is continuing to advance its global distribution of electric scooters with both company operations and financial metrics said to be “delivering strong operational and commercial growth” internationally.

Bolstered by strong sales in several regions, Vmoto is also “on track” to develop a new model of electric delivery scooter expected to be launched at the upcoming EICMA exhibition in Milan later this month.

In a regulatory filing, Vmoto said it had sold 6,027 electric two-wheel vehicle products in the third quarter of this year with the majority (around 45%) going to non-European customers and distributors, 35% being sold in Europe and the remaining 20% going to China.

In total, the past quarter’s sales figures represented a 94% increase compared to Q2 2019. Moreover, Vmoto declared that its cash position improved to $6.4 million following “very strong” performance in all markets and territories – a $1.3 million improvement on the previous quarter and an increase of $2.2 million since the start of this year.

Given the consistent improvement in continuous order flows, Vmoto declared that its sales are “continuing on an upward trend” and that it expects its growing sales rates to continue in the coming months.

New orders

As of the end of September, Vmoto reported that it had 4,421 “firm orders” for new scooters and that it’s products “continue to generate increased interest among motorcycle enthusiasts and trendy consumers”.

Another operational boost has come from the public sector with authorities keen to subsidise, or at least support, the use of environmentally-friendly electric vehicles as opposed to petrol-powered variants.

Currently, several governments from across the world are actively supporting electric scooter markets through various initiatives aimed at boosting demand and streamlining supply channels for manufactures such as Vmoto.

Such initiatives include the offering of monetary incentives for using electric vehicles, environmental carbon-emissions reductive targets, banning petrol vehicles and further investment in charging infrastructure – all of which were contributing factors that are driving the adoption of electric vehicles as viable transportation.

These policies are having a noticeable impact on overall demand and are expected to further drive the growth in Vmoto’s sales, the company said.

Gathering momentum

Not resting on its laurels, Vmoto is actively pursuing additional sales opportunities in the business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-customer (B2C) sectors, including the sharing and delivery markets which are seeing a parallel increase in growth given the broad-based increase in demand for electric scooters.

Earlier this year, Vmoto announced a collaboration with Italian motorcycle brand Ducati in order to launch a special edition two-wheel electric scooter that would ultimately be presented to consumers as a “high-end luxury product at a premium price.”

Under the licence, Ducati and Vmoto will manufacture electric vehicles called the “CUX special Ducati edition” with Vmoto set to supply and release the CUX models bearing the Ducati brand and label.

So far, Vmoto has delivered 400 units to its international distributors with anticipation from consumers reported to be strong.

In addition to Ducati, Vmoto said it is currently in negotiations with Zig Zag Italy, a city vehicle rental service provider for a further order of 300 units of “sharing electric scooters” for its expanding operations in Italy. This follows the delivery of over 170 units of sharing electric scooters to the company in the second quarter of this year.

In the Netherlands, Vmoto delivered 170 units of sharing electric scooters to Dutch company Go Sharing Netherlands and secured a further order for 500 units to support its expanding operations in the country.

Additionally, this past quarter saw Vmoto signing an exclusive distribution agreement with Hobbyzone to warehouse, distribute and market its B2C range of electric two-wheel vehicle products in Mongolia.

Hobbyzone’s wide distribution network includes its own retail stores, hypermarkets, dealers and online stores which Vmoto is looking to effectively leverage and boost international sales.

Vmoto said it has supplied samples and is in discussions with a number of potential B2C and B2B distributors in as many as 19 countries including large demand hotspots such as Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.

In a statement to the market, Vmoto said: “Our strong sales network and ongoing marketing activities continue to increase brand and product awareness and are driving a healthy and growing pipeline of sales leads.

“The management team remains focused on securing further firm orders from new and existing customers and remains confident in its ability to continue to increase international sales and further consolidate its position as a leading electric two-wheel vehicle manufacturer.”

This morning’s news helped Vmoto shares to add more than 18% in morning trade to stand at $0.13 per share just before midday.