Merida Bikes

Merida Industry Co., Ltd. (MIC)
Public
Industry Bicycle manufacturing
Founded 1972
Headquarters Yuanlin, Changhua, Taiwan
Products Bicycles
Website www.merida-bikes.com
Merida Crossway

Merida Industry Co., Ltd (MIC) is a Taiwan-based bicycle design, manufacture, and sales company. It was started in 1972 by Ike Tseng. The original layout was based on the Raleigh Nottingham factory as Merida began by making Raleigh bikes for the North American market. Ike was a very talented engineer, and the company grew as a well-respected OE manufacturer making many well-respected brands.

Ike died in January 2012, the company is now run by his son Michael Tseng.

Merida is a global player in bicycle design and manufacturing, making 2.2 million bicycles a year at 5 factories: 1 in Taiwan, 3 in China and 1 in Germany.

As at 2012 the company is a public listed company on the Taiwanese stock exchange, quoted at approximately £350 million, making it one of Taiwan's biggest companies.[1] (The company went public in 1992).

Merida now produces mainly its own Merida-branded bikes, which are present in 77 countries around the world, or selected brands which it has a financial interest in, e.g. the German brand Centurion.[2]

In 2001, Merida bought 49% of Specialized for a reported US$30 million, although its CEO and founder Mike Sinyard remained majority owner.[3][4]

Merida has been co-sponsor of the Multivan Merida Biking Team, with athletes such as Jose Hermida and Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå, and of bicycle racing events such as the TransUK and TransWales mountain bike races.[5] Since 2004, the team has been scoring over 30 World Cup wins as well as Olympic gold and silver medals.[6]

In 2013 Merida became co-sponsors of the Pro-Tour Lampre-Merida road racing team.

Contrary to many rumours, there are no official reports that Merida manufactures own-label bikes for any UK-only high-street or supermarket chains.

References

  1. ↑ Branding Taiwan
  2. ↑ German BIKE Magazin Milestone award 2008
  3. ↑ http://www.bike-eu.com/news/680/correction-merida-buys-49%25-of-specialized.html
  4. ↑ "Correction: Merida Buys 49% of Specialized". Bike Europe. 2001-08-08. Retrieved 2013-02-17.
  5. ↑ Skinner, Matt (February 25, 2009). "After 7 days and 550km of riding with 15,500m of climbing the Merida Bikes TransWales 2008 is over". Bikemag.com. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
  6. ↑ "Multivan Merida Biking Team - Merida Bikes International". Retrieved 2012-11-13.
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