Big in Japan?

Looking over the posts here over the past couple of weeks, it is surprising that there hasn't been any commentary on the recent developments in Japan.

Possibly, part of the explanation lies in the language barrier: If you don't speak Japanese, you need to rely on something like Google translate to read the reports relating to Super Soco in that country, and unfortunately these Google translations tend to be a bit iffy, particularly in relation to Asian languages.

Japan is easily the largest developed country that Vmoto Soco have moved into so far. Japan's population of 126 million is equivalent to that of two large European countries, for example Germany and Spain, or France and Italy.  Thus, the entry into the Japanese market could potentially be a significant development for this company.

Within the past couple of weeks, there have been two reports from Japanese websites that offer some encouraging insights as to how this company is traveling in the Japanese market.

I was a bit hesitant about posting this information here, not knowing Japanese and thus having to rely on Google translate. As such, I'll proceed with caution and only include the relevant translated paragraphs that caught my eye in these two articles.

The first passage is from a Japanese website called 'For Ride', which draws attention to the fact that a 'light and cool electric motorcycle is on sale for less than 300,000 yen!"

That is quite cheap: 300,000 yen converts to around $4,000 AUD at the current rate.

The focus of the article is on Super Soco's popular TC model. Here is the paragraph that grabbed my attention:

...By the way, it has been sold in Japan since May 2020, and it has become such a popular vehicle that the first shipment has already been sold out...

The second Japanese report is from a website called 'Carview', and is of a more generic nature. This report mentions that the Super Soco brand was unveiled in Japan in March this year, and discusses both the TC and TSX models.

The following line from the article gives some indication as to the popularity of the brand since it landed in Japan some three months back:

...These models are available at 217 stores nationwide as of April 2020...

So, putting two and two together, it sounds as if the Super Soco bikes are widely available in Japan, currently being sold in over 200 stores, and they seem to have been selling like hotcakes in that country.

Given the limitations of Google translate, I was being cautious here, translating the Japanese word-by-word to try and make sure that the translation wasn't misleading.

However, just to be safe, I looked at a couple of other sources to check that the information in these reports are reliable. Firstly, I looked at the website of Xeam, the Japanese distributor of Super Soco.



As can be see above, Xeam have a prominent Super Soco banner plastered across their website.

Secondly, to get an indication as whether Super Soco  really was as popular in Japan as is indicated in the websites quoted above, I looked on 'Google Trends', checking on the pattern of searches for the term 'Super Soco' that originated from Japan:



There does seem to have been a significant spike in searches recently, peaking in late May.

I think it makes sense that slick-looking bikes with a hi-tech feel such as the Super Soco TC or TSX would be naturally popular in Japan, given that the Gen-Ys in that country have grown up exposed to films such as Akira, which, in turn was influenced by the much earlier bōsōzoku motorcycle bike-gangs. There is a significant motorcycle sub-culture in Japan, dating back to the 60s.

Hopefully, we will be seeing an even bigger spike in Google searches when the next shipment of bikes reaches Japan.