R.P.M. Moves to New Headquarters in Taipei for 22nd Anniversary

R.P.M. Co., Ltd., a major powered two-wheeler (PTW) tuning-parts brand in Taiwan, recently celebrated its 22nd anniversary by moving into a brand-new integrated office- factory complex in Taipei, showing its determination to further expand its business, especially globally after having built dominance on the island.

The new office-plant complex cost over NT$100 million (US$2.86 million at US$1: NT$35) to build, with the modern four-floor facility boasting some 1,980 square meters.

"Building the new headquarters shows R.P.M.'s strong determination in sustainable operation," claims Wong Ming-liang, the CEO, "and it is also the fortress for further business expansion and product diversification. For example, we constantly develop more shock absorbers to upgrade conventional motorcycles into super-bikes."

For most of the past 22 years, R.P.M. has led the PTW-tuning parts sector in Taiwan, and the firm began aggressive business expansion globally several years after its line of high-quality, innovative products attracted attentions from buyers worldwide, especially in Japan and Europe.

The company supplies a wide range of high-end PTW tuning items, including its core product line of top-performance shock absorbers, as well as brake systems, suspension systems and parts, brake parts, wheels, tires, wheel covers, mufflers, wheel parts, metal parts etc. R.P.M. designs, develops in-house 90% of its products.

Wong is very confident of his company's future: "Very few nations have such a high PTW ownership as in Taiwan, where so many rely on scooters for daily commutes and business; that means, we have a huge field to develop, test and prove tuning parts for PTWs. In addition, local PTW tuning-parts developers and makers are given a new window of opportunity with the rising number of big-displacement motorcycles in Taiwan after the island became a World Trade Organization (WTO) member about 10 years ago."

Evolving Role

As a pioneer in the business, R.P.M. has seen the role of scooters in Taiwan evolve over the years-from one of a workhorse or commuter tool, with rising affluence on the island, to its increasing duty as a recreational vehicle, and for many youngsters a sports vehicle, a means to personal freedom, and a platform to show individuality.

"We also went through the toughest period for the business in Taiwan about 10 years ago, when the island became the global production base of under-150cc scooters carrying not only local brands but also major Japanese nameplates as Yamaha and Suzuki," Wong says, "so typical scooter parts sold on the island were so cost effective and yet of relatively high quality, leaving little room for performance parts makers."

"For R.P.M., the challenging market has always forced us to upgrade product design, innovation and quality," Wong says. "While we paid a high price for finding our niche, we finally chose top-end shock absorber as our mainstream product for a simple reason: every PTW needs such device and replacing them immediately makes a difference in performance, which is a key appeal for tuning-parts users."

World-class Quality

Wong is very proud of his company's strong capability to overcome all kinds of technical problems to evolve into a world-class player in high-end shock absorbers. "R.P.M. turns out top-end shock absorbers with quality and precision parallel with that made by the best-known nameplates in Japan and Italy," the CEO claims, "but our prices are much more competitive. With state-of-the-art styling and superior performance, our shock absorbers, like many famous counterparts, are the targets of many copycats in China, where only about two of 10 R.P.M. shocks are genuine."

R.P.M.'s strategy has proven very successful, not only because its line of top-end products have gained shares in the global upper market, but also it has been offering products required by major customers in Europe and Japan, such as top-end brake calipers, brake disks, and computer numeric control (CNC)-machined parts. In addition, R.P.M.'s steadfast efforts to upgrade have paid off-increasingly more international PTW brands or dealers in industrially advanced European nations are placing OEM/ODM orders.

Mostly In-house Developed

Over the past 20 years, Wong claims, R.P.M. has been enjoying stable growth. "We insist on in-house development of most of our high-end products and have won dozens of international patents," the CEO says, "that's the key factor enabling us to command higher profit margins, which give us more resources to engage in R&D projects to build better, newer products. That's how we, at least in my opinion, effectively achieve success in the high-end tuning business."

The company is developing a series of reverse-type front shock absorbers for scooters. According to Wong, his company's R&D team has been thinking out-of-the-box, tapping established expertise and know-how, to modify rear scooter dampeners into reverse-type front forks, realizing eye-catching styling and much better dampening performance than traditional front forks.

"We have a very clear goal for the next few years," Wong says confidently. "Our top-end shock absorbers are expected to be bigger threats in upper markets globally by engaging in direct showdowns against major Italian and Japanese rivals, while we are also actively expanding product mix and range."