The Vmoto Monaco is a small electric scooter from Vmoto, an Australian manufacturer and distributor of electric motorcycles based in Perth. Vmoto has concentrated on electric two- and three-wheelers since it bought the German electric scooter company E-max at the end of the 2000s.
Vmoto Monaco at a glance
| Model | Vmoto Monaco |
|---|---|
| Maker | Vmoto Ltd., Perth, Australia |
| Production | Nanjing, China |
| Type | electric scooter |
| Range top speed | up to 120 km/h |
| Group brands | Vmoto, E-Max, Super Soco |
| Vmoto brand market | Asia |
| E-Max brand market | business customers |
| Founded | 1999, Perth, by Patrick Davin |
| Factory opened | 2009, Nanjing |
The Monaco has no Wikipedia page of its own; the article describes the scooter through the history and range of Vmoto and gives no unverified individual specifications.
History of the Vmoto Monaco
Vmoto began in 1999 as a scooter distributor founded in Perth by Patrick Davin. The Optima group, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, bought the Vmoto brand in 2006, and Davin was appointed managing director of the renamed company the following year.
The move into electric scooters came at the end of the decade. Vmoto announced the purchase of the Shanghai motorcycle trading company Freedomotor at the end of 2006, started a scooter assembly plant in Nanjing in 2008 and finished it in 2009. In December 2009 it took 60 per cent of the German electric scooter company E-max and completed the purchase in 2010. The E-Max acquisition set the long-term direction of the company: electric two-wheelers would be its future.
The early electric scooters sold badly in Australia — fewer than one hundred E-Max machines were sold there — and an attempt to enter the Chinese market in 2012 failed to change the company’s fortunes. Later exports did better: in 2015 sales rose sharply in Nepal, where a fuel shortage during the blockade pushed buyers towards electric two-wheelers.
A new phase began with Super Soco. The two companies signed an informal partnership in 2017, Super Soco moved into the underused Nanjing factory, and the pair presented together at the EICMA show in Milan. In February 2020 the relationship became the Vmoto Soco joint venture, giving Vmoto the international distribution rights for Super Soco and for its own E-Max brand. Vmoto also entered scooter-sharing fleets in 2020, supplying seven operators by 2021. The Monaco belongs to the same family of small electric scooters as the Milan and Monza.
Design and features
- Electric drive: battery-powered, with no petrol engine.
- City scooter layout: a compact step-through machine for urban use.
- Nanjing production: built at the Vmoto plant that also assembles the Super Soco range.
- Low top speed: all Vmoto vehicles are limited to 120 km/h, according to German Wikipedia.
Vmoto Monaco versions
- Vmoto Monaco: the model sold under the Vmoto name.
- Business and fleet versions: the group supplies scooters in bulk to ride-share operators.
- Vmoto Soco range: the joint venture that distributes the group’s scooters internationally.
- Sister models: the Milan and Monza.
Other scooters from the maker are in the Vmoto collection, among them the Milan and the Monza.
Sources
- Vmoto, English Wikipedia: founding, Nanjing plant, E-Max, Super Soco, exports, ride-share fleets
- Vmoto, German Wikipedia: brand roles, production site, top speed
