Merida Bikes

Merida Industry Co., Ltd (MIC; Chinese: 美利達工業) is a Taiwan-based company with R&D headquarters in Germany that designs, manufactures and markets bicycles globally in over 77 countries. Founded in 1972 by Ike Tseng (1932–2012), the company designs and manufactures over 2 million bicycles a year at its factories in Taiwan, China and Germany. After Tseng's death in January 2012, his son Michael Tseng became the company's president.

Merida Industry Co., Ltd.
TypePublic
IndustryBicycle manufacturing
Founded1972
HeadquartersYuanlin, Changhua, Taiwan
Key people
Michael Tseng, CEO
ProductsBicycles
Websitewww.merida-bikes.com
Merida Reacto Team
Kristijan Đurasek at Tour de France in 2014

After making bicycles as an original equipment manufacturer for numerous other brands, the company established its own brand, Merida, in 1988.[1] The company currently designs and manufactures bicycles primarily for its own brand — and for brands with which it shares financial interest, including the now German brand Centurion.[2]

Merida has been a publicly traded company on the Taiwanese stock exchange since 1992 and is valued as of 2012 at approximately £350 million, making it one of Taiwan's largest companies.[3]

The name Merida derives roughly from the translation of its three syllables ma-ri-da, which mirror the company's goal to manufacture bikes that enable the customer to reach their destination.[4]

History

The original Merida factory was organized after the Raleigh Nottingham factory as the company began by making Raleigh bikes for the North American market. Tseng would later develop his own welding robots to meet his production goals.[5]

In 2001, Merida bought 49% of Specialized for a reported US$30 million, with its CEO and founder Mike Sinyard remaining the majority owner.[6][7] In the past, Merida manufactured bicycles for companies including Mongoose. In 2007, Merida invested $7 million to renovate its 35-year-old factory in Taichung, without halting production.[8]

Sponsorship

Merida has been co-sponsor of the Multivan Merida Biking Team, with athletes such as José Antonio Hermida and Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå, and of bicycle racing events such as the TransUK and TransWales mountain bike races.[9] Since 2004, the team has been scoring over 30 World Cup wins as well as Olympic gold and silver medals.[10]

In 2013 Merida became co-sponsors of the Pro-Tour Lampre-Merida road racing team and changed to Bahrain–Merida Pro Cycling Team in 2017, now called Team Bahrain McLaren

See also

References
  1. Ludovic Péron, Trek Bicycle. "15 Extremely Popular Bicycle Brands In The World".
  2. German BIKE Magazin Milestone award 2008
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-08-02. Retrieved 2009-04-03.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Branding Taiwan
  4. "About Us, Merida".
  5. George Scott (3 February 2012). "Merida founder Ike Tseng passes away". Bike Magic.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-04-15. Retrieved 2010-08-19.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Correction: Merida Buys 49% of Specialized". Bike Europe. 2001-08-08. Retrieved 2013-02-17.
  8. "A-Team Profile — Michael Tseng". Bicycle Retailer. 5 May 2008.
  9. Skinner, Matt (25 February 2009). "After 7 days and 550km of riding with 15,500m of climbing the Merida Bikes TransWales 2008 is over". Bikemag.com. Archived from the original on 8 January 2009. Retrieved 9 March 2009.
  10. "Multivan Merida Biking Team - Merida Bikes International". Archived from the original on 2012-11-14. Retrieved 2012-11-13.


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