Giant’s Bonnie Tu on women’s cycling, a new brand launch, click & collect and Brexit

Giant Bicycle’s CFO and Liv Cycling founder Bonnie Tu has spoken out on the UK’s sophisticated cycle retail market, hinted at a new brand launch later this year and given her perspective on the growth in coverage in women’s cycling in a wide ranging with Cycling Industry News (CIN).

Taking part in CIN’s latest Podcast, the Giant Global Group chairperson also expanded on the huge industry player’s e-bike strategy, click & collect, IOT and what Brexit might mean for both Giant and the wider cycle industry.

“When I started the Liv business in 2008 nobody was talking about female cyclists. But now, if you go through all the media you can see even the men are talking about bringing more women to ride. This is something I couldn’t imagine when I started the Liv brand.

“I do hope that more females from the UK market can take their ride into the sport category. That is something I really wish; there were more women riding.”

Elaborating on the new brand launch, Tu said: “This July you will see we are going to introduce a new brand which is something that very enthusiastic cyclists can look forward to. We are going to launch it at the same time as the Tour de France. It’s definitely not for commuting, it’s for people who take cycling very seriously.”

On the topic of the commuting market, the Giant CFO said: “Previously, our Giant brand covered innovative lifestyle through to the high performance bike that you can ride in the Tour de France; our brand was stretched too thin. So, we decided that from this year we will cut out this commuting side and introduce a new all-encompassing brand to cover the commuting side, called Momentum.

“We wanted to create a bike that makes commuting more fun and stylish, more for the modern commuter. We studied it in the USA, so it will be coming from there to Europe, I think by the time our Hungarian factory is ready, so we will be able to produce more for the European market.”

Tu also spoke out on Brexit: “We heard that dumping duties on bike imports from China will be cancelled, that is what we heard. If that happens, then the bike models that sell in the UK will have a wider range, and we will be able to sell more models in the UK. I would say we would be able to provide more choices for our UK consumers. I think we have to wait and see. Every morning when I’m watching my morning TV, when I’m brushing my teeth, it is the first thing I care about; what is happening with Brexit?!

“The UK market is one of the best markets we have in Europe and the retailing here is very sophisticated, the consumer is very sophisticated. So, if you win and you can do well in the UK market, you can do well in the rest of the world.”

You can listen to Bonnie Tu’s interview on the third episode of the CIN Podcast, here.