Back in Britain
It's been a year since Scomadi unveiled their new factory in Thailand. A lot's happened over that time but, if you're quick, you might just find a Scomadi on the floor of a British showroom.
It was last March when Scomadi threw open the doors of their new factory. The new facility, just outside Pattaya, was all ready to gear up for volume production and then Covid hit. Not only were Thais ordered into lockdown but the supply of components was also interrupted. It's been a difficult time for the Scomadi team but there is finally light at the end of the tunnel. It had always been Scomadi's intention that the first batches of machines to come off the line would be delivered to Thai dealers. After all it's easier to resolve any teething problems close to home. With the factory now running smoothly and plenty of happy local customers, it's time for the Scomadi team to start thinking about international sales. The UK market will now be served directly by Scomadi World Wide (SWW) which is the overarching company that owns the Scomadi brand and design rights.
As Nigel Godwin, the man tasked by SWW to build up the UK dealer network explained, the brand's reintroduction to its spiritual home will be gentle at first. “There's no doubt that there's a huge demand for Scomadis in the UK,” he began. “We want to make sure that the network we put in place will understand the brand's history and be able to offer the very best customer service.” The initial batch of TT125s arrived in January. “It's fair to say that demand has been high and most of those machines have already found new owners,” added Nigel. Shipment of spares has been contracted to Dave Wilson at RetroTEch Racing, who has secured additional warehouse space to cope with the latest deliveries. Having been involved with the brand since its early days, Dave is ideally placed to assume this role. Although, as he explained to Scootering, taking stock of the spares holding is proving to be quite a task. “I've received two 40ft containers of spares and accessories which range from complete engines to body parts. I'm always happy to help but it's going to take a while to go through them all and get a working system in place.”
In common with many manufacturers Scomadi is currently only able to supply machines that are compliant with Euro 4 emission standards. Prospective buyers shouldn't be deterred by this as there's a system in place which allows ‘end of run' machines to be legally registered and used. There's no firm date for the arrival of Euro 5 Scomadis but we're assured that the development team are hard at work to achieve this at the earliest opportunity. There's also good news for owners of older TL machines. “The TL and TT share many components,” said Frank Sanderson, originator of the brand and now an integral part of the team in Thailand. “TL bodywork is available and this can be ordered from the factory by dealers through our distributors and a large range of TL spare parts are also held by Modern Scooters. We also have direct lines of supply from the engine manufacturers and any items that are specifically manufactured by Hanway, and concurrent with the Royal Alloy GT, can be ordered from Moto GB. All suspension parts are interchangeable, even the new Scomadi fork system can be retrofitted to a TL.”
There's no doubt that British scooterists have a lot of love for Scomadi but it's also equally true that the brand's story has, at times, been a turbulent one. When asked why prospective owners should choose Scomadi, Nigel had the following to say: “We're grateful to our loyal customer base and want to assure them that they haven't been forgotten. By taking a low-key approach to our British relaunch we'll be able to give every dealer and every customer our full attention. Scomadi has always built machines for the discerning enthusiast and we're determined to give them the best level of service possible.” It may not be on the scale that die-hard Scomadi fans had hoped for, but this ‘soft launch' proves that there's still some life left in the Panther. Wherever the Scomadi story goes next, Scootering will of course keep you informed.
All dealer enquires should be directed to Nigel at Scomadi World Wide on 01772 953570 or email info@ scomadiworldwide.com