Johannesburg - When previous Suzuki importer Motana handed over the brand to Suzuki SA and moved out of the motorcycle business in April, that left its other two-wheeled nameplate, the Taiwanese SYM scooters, out in the cold.
But not for long. Taiwan's oldest scooter manufacturer soon found a home with Chris Speight at Kawasaki Motors South Africa, already known as a rescuer of orphaned motorcycle brands; in addition to Kawasaki, KMSA is also the South African distributor of Triumph, Aprilia and Moto Guzzi motorcycles, as well as Aeon quads.
Speight has appointed long-serving KMSA stalwart Kibble Jelliman as brand manager; the huge job of reconciling, paying for and taking over all the SYM scooters, bikes, spares and accessories from the previous importers is done and they're now available from Kawasaki dealers around South Africa.
MODELS FROM 125 - 300cc
The model range runs from 125 and 150cc commuters (including a couple of 125cc motorcycle models) starting with the XS125-K at R12 495 and topped by the 21kW GTS300i at R39 995. They're all covered by a two-year, unlimited distance warranty.
SanYang Industry was founded in 1954 and entered into a joint venture with Honda in the early 1960s, to become the first motorcycle manufacturer in Taiwan. It later began building first Honda and later Hyundai cars for the domestic market and is still today the only manufacturer in Taiwan producing both cars and motorcycles, turning out about 35 000 cars and a million two-wheelers a year.