The big news this morning from Cycle World is that HD will be making its S3 Livewire in Taiwan. Kymco of Taiwan will be making the electric motorcycle, a scaled-down version of the S2 Platform.
As most of you will know, in 2021 HD spun off Livewire as a separate company and announced plans for the modular Arrow electric motorcycle, which was to become the basis for the S2 Del Mar and the subsequent S2 Mulholland.
While sales have languished for HD’s American-made electrics, HD has inked deals with Hero Motors in India, and now Kymco (as a minor shareholder) to produce motorcycles under license for Harley-Davidson in Taiwan.
Kymco is banking on its product being a hot commodity. The Taiwanese company has sunk $100 million into the new LiveWire product, as has Harley-Davidson. HD still owns the lion’s share (96%) of the company. Kymco’s own electric offerings, RevoNEX and SuperNEX were displayed in 2018, reworked and reintroduced in 2022.
Kymco intends the platform to be adaptable, in keeping with the latest EV design trends. Adaptive to motors and batteries of various sizes, both air-cooled and liquid-cooled offerings. Interestingly, the Kymco patent relates specifically to details that show an IMU in the bike’s chassis, truly representative of the Kymco/Livewire model.
There are notable changes from Kymco’s previous offerings, offering a completely different seat subframe as a modular element, unlike what has been seen in either the LiveWire S2 Del Mar or S2 Mulholland designs.
On February 29th of this year, gtamotorcycle.com stated that,
“Kymco Taiwan has also been producing vehicles for major manufacturers in the world for over 60 years. Kymco designs and manufactures vehicles for Arctic Cat, Argo, Kawasaki, BMW, and now Harley-Davidson!!!”
No dates as yet have been set for when their products will hit the market, but we do live in interesting times. Donald Trump stated emphatically back in 2018, “that Harley-Davidson’s should never be made outside America.” It will be interesting to see how that statement squares with Harley-Davidson’s plans globally.
Thanks to Cycle World for the photos and information.
Ciao…
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