Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/258187
IN THE WIND P28 c o m / 2 0 1 4 / 0 1 / te r r a - m o to r s - allocates-1 0000-units-for-in - dia-114861) - albeit a small drop in the huge local PTW market num- bering more than 10 million annu- al sales, where battery-powered bikes and scooters are still on the ground floor? The short answer: No. "Terra Motors approached us in the middle of last year to ask if we would supply them with pow- ertrains for an electric scooter concept they had in mind, and planned to show at the Tokyo Motor Show at the back end of 2013," says Richard Walker, Zero Motorcycles President/CEO. "They bought a Zero S and a Zero DS from us, and imported them into Japan for the supposed pur- pose, as we were led to believe, of evaluating our powertrain and beginning prototype work on the scooter. "So the Kiwami announcement was a complete surprise and in- deed a shock to Zero Motorcy- cles. We do not have a contract or supply agreement in place with them for the use of a Zero S to be repurposed as a Kiwami motorcycle. In proceeding with this product launch, Terra Mo- tors has falsely advertised our Zero S electric motorcycle as a creation of Terra Motors, and has created confusion in the minds of industry reporters, our custom- ers and potential customers, as to the source of the Kiwami bike. They have been disingenuous in making this announcement, and we have demanded they set the record straight." This cease-and-desist action has had one immediate effect, with the removal of the Kiwami's dedicated website from the lo- cal Terra Motors. It seems that the purpose of the Kiwami's creation was to draw attention in the vast Auto Expo display to the more humble electric scooter and three-wheelers offerings – but it's a controversial marketing technique that has only ended up gathering the wrong kind of pub- licity, even though the Kiwami continues to be displayed on the Terra Motors Auto Expo until the show ends on February 11. The remarkable thing is that Terra Motors appears on the sur- face to be a highly respectable organization, with Tokushige re- portedly a San Jose, California- based Silicon Valley veteran. It's claimed that after working for Panasonic there he founded Terra Motors, whose stockhold- ers are claimed to include some of the most distinguished busi- nessmen in Japan, including among them Nobuyuki Idei, for- mer chairman of Sony, Kenji Ya- mamoto, former vice president of Apple, and Koichiro Tsujino, for- mer president of Google Japan. It's hard to believe that any of them would have countenanced this rip-off marketing scam – yet the company also claims on its website that, "Talented members of various backgrounds have joined the Terra Motors team in- cluding professional engineers from Toyota, Honda, and Yama- ha. Joined by a strategic consul- tant from a top-consulting firm, Terra Motors has also attracted venture minded talent from top universities around Japan… Ter- ra Motors will continue to lead innovation in the field of electric scooters in Asia with a Silicon Valley sensibility." Alan Cathcart HERE COMES THE EAST T his Saturday night's Su- percross in Dallas, Texas, marks the opening round of the 250 East Regional Supercross Championship and we checked in with a few of the team manag- ers to see how things are shap- ing up as far as riders for that series. Several riders are coming off of injuries, and while Pro Circuit's Blake Baggett and GEICO Hon- da's Justin Bogle will be ready to go, Red Bull KTM's Marvin Mus- quin will not be ready until later in the year. Baggett broke his ankle about five weeks ago at the Kawasaki practice track and, according to Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Mitch Payton, has