The TGB Target is the second of the Taiwanese company’s all-terrain vehicle families, listed as the Target IRS 500/525/550 and the Target EFI 550/600. It stands beside the Blade range and the Gunner quads, and together those three names carry TGB’s standing as one of the leading quad makers on the European market.
TGB Target at a glance
| Maker | Taiwan Golden Bee Co., Ltd. (TGB), Taiwan |
|---|---|
| Model | TGB Target, all-terrain vehicle family |
| Independent rear suspension | Target IRS 500/525/550 |
| Electronic fuel injection | Target EFI 550/600 |
| Sister ranges | TGB Blade from 250 to 1000 cc; TGB Gunner IRS 550 and EFI 550/600 |
| Engines | mainly Morini units, licence-built Moto Franco Morini designs |
| Assembly | Taiwan: Youn-An plant (270 staff) and Ping-Tung plant (170 staff) |
| European position | TGB counts among the leading quad and ATV makers in Europe |
| German distribution | ZEG from 2001; Leeb of Austria from 2008 |
No Wikipedia page exists for this model in any language. The page is built from the German, Polish and English articles on the manufacturer, Taiwan Golden Bee, and from the model list they give; the source publishes no technical data for the individual Target versions.
History of the TGB Target
Taiwan Golden Bee was set up in 1965 as Taiwan Vespa Co. Ltd. and produced Piaggio scooters under licence for the Taiwanese market; the rename to Taiwan Golden Bee in 1978 marked the start of production of the company’s own vehicles. The step from two wheels to four followed, and the quad business is the one that took the firm to Europe, where it has been present for more than twenty years and ranks among the leading makers of the market.
The Target is part of that four-wheeled programme. The manufacturer lists it in two groups, the Target IRS 500/525/550 with independent rear suspension and the Target EFI 550/600 with electronic fuel injection, and sets it beside the broader Blade range, which runs from 250 to 1000 cc, and the Gunner, offered in IRS 550 and EFI 550/600 forms. The naming is consistent across all three families, and the displacement steps suggest utility and recreational models of the same size, though the source does not spell that out.
Nothing further is published about the Target in any language of Wikipedia: there is no model article, and the manufacturer’s list gives no power, torque, weight, ground clearance or production years for the individual versions. What the sources do describe is the maker, which devotes itself to a narrow range of engine sizes and buys its power units from Morini, whose engines are licence-built Moto Franco Morini designs; most of the bodywork, by contrast, is made in-house, with cockpits and handlebar switches also bought in.
TGB also builds complete continuously variable transmission systems for Piaggio, Rotax/Can-Am, Peugeot, Polaris, Minarelli, Morini and SYM, so the Target’s transmission comes from the same business that supplies far larger makers. Production runs in Taiwan at the Youn-An plant, with 270 employees on 31,260 square metres, and the Ping-Tung plant, with 170 employees on 21,623 square metres. In Germany the quads have been imported exclusively by the ZEG cooperative of Cologne from 2001 and, since 2008, by the Austrian importer Leeb.
Design and features
- Two groups: the Target comes in IRS 500/525/550 and EFI 550/600 forms.
- Consistent family naming: the same IRS and EFI pattern is used for the Blade and Gunner ranges.
- Mid-size displacement: the Target covers 500 to 600 cc, between the small Blades and the 1000.
- Own transmission technology: TGB builds complete CVT systems for Piaggio, Polaris and others.
TGB Target versions
- Target IRS 500/525/550: the independent-rear-suspension models.
- Target EFI 550/600: the fuel-injected versions.
- Blade family: the broader sister range, from 250 to 1000 cc.
- Gunner IRS 550 and EFI 550/600: the third quad family in the same list.
The TGB Blade is its larger sister range, and the TGB R125X the smallest of the four-wheel models. More machines are in the TGB collection.
Video: Offroadpark Langenaltheim Quadausflug TGB Target 550 IRS
Video by Benjamin Schnizler on YouTube.
Sources
- Taiwan Golden Bee, German Wikipedia: Target, Blade and Gunner model list, plants, market position
- Taiwan Golden Bee, Polish Wikipedia: company profile and model names
- Taiwan Golden Bee, English Wikipedia: origins, transmission supply to Polaris and others
