The e-bike motor market is fiercely competitive these days. With its background in the automotive industry, Chinese manufacturer Vinka made a prominent appearance at Taichung Bike Week 2024.
Founded in 2003, Vinka’s parent company Suzhou Wanjia Electric is a high-tech enterprise specialized in R&D, manufacturing and sales operations. Headquartered in Suzhou, the company operates a factory in Tianjin. “Originally, Vinka was a Chinese-Japanese company. Later, it became entirely Chinese. We manufacture in China and distribute our motors globally from here,” explained Sales Director Giulia Wang and Vice General Manager Junning Huang during our visit at Taichung Bike Week.
As a supplier to several car brands, particularly from Japan, Vinka gained substantial expertise in manufacturing and R&D – and also started to get involved in the bicycle industry. Today, Vinka’s portfolio includes mid-drive motors, hub motors, displays, controllers, torque sensors, and digital solutions such as apps. “Due to our experience, we have all the necessary resources in-house, which gives us a lot of flexibility and freedom in our R&D activities.”
Our main markets are Europe, the US and Japan,” Wang said, referring to the after-sales centers in places like the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Canada, Japan and the US. Although ODM is a key pillar of the firm’s business, the company aims to strengthen its own brand in the future. “Since 2016, when we released our first motor, we’ve built a strong reputation with our European partners, and since we believe in the Vinka brand, we plan to give it more visibility in the future and increase our marketing activities,” said Wang, indicating that building brand recognition is high on the motor manufacturer’s priority list. Among the product highlights at Taichung Bike Week was the Q70, a lightweight mid-motor weighing just 2.1 kilograms, offering 105 Nm of torque.