Like many scions of family-run companies, Joshua Goh, the Chief Executive Officer of home-grown electric motorcycle maker Scorpio Electric can call to mind memories of being around the family’s business as early as the age of four.
He remembers taking turns with his sister to sit inside a sports car painted in metallic purple and sitting on the roof of the vehicle taking photos with his father. That car, he later finds out, was a Lamborghini Diablo, an icon in the supercar world in the ‘90s to early 2000s.
Later, noticing that his father had many racing trophies that he collected through the years, he requested that he be taken to go-karting. Their first father-son outing to the now-defunct go-kart circuit Kart World at Taman Jurong was a particularly memorable one for the younger Goh, who got to drive around the circuit with his father and be shown the ropes. He would then go on to race go-kart competitively in national and international competitions throughout his teenage years.
“Being raised in a family so deeply involved in the automotive world, you can say that the automotive passion was seeded from a young age,” says Goh.
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Quite the understatement, as the family’s dabblings started with Goh’s grandfather, who started a motor workshop in the ‘60s that eventually evolved into a business selling used cars. Goh’s father, Melvin Goh, took over the family business in the late ‘80s, and took it upmarket, transforming it into a dealership for used luxury cars, before setting up Eurosports Auto to import new cars in 1998.
First came the Lotus dealership, then the Lamborghini and Alfa Romeo franchise in quick succession. By 2012, Eurosports had cemented its reputation as one of the key players in the automobile world, boasting Pagani and Touring Superleggera as part of its stable.
- CARVING HIS OWN PATH
- ON THE FAST TRACK
Carving His Own Path
But while childhood memories of being around flashy cars are crystal-clear, his path to joining the automobile business was much less linear. In his teenage years, Goh toyed with the idea of becoming a doctor, a fighter pilot, and even joining the military. In university, he pursued finance and accounting, and joined the business sector in various roles within the fields of capital markets, corporate finance, and corporate restructuring.
His father never pushed him to join the family business, Goh said, and it wasn’t until he broached the subject with a phone call (“He asked me, ‘Hello son, do you want to be Mr. Alfa Romeo?’”) that he started considering the option seriously. He asked for two weeks to ponder over his decision, but it soon became clear what his answer would be. At that point in 2017, Eurosports was starting to branch out and Goh knew that it was to be an ‘all hands on deck’ period for the company.
“While we continued distributing luxury cars, we also wanted to create something truly revolutionary: To create Singapore’s first electric motorcycle manufacturer,” he says.
“Through the 2000s, my father had already observed the incoming wave of electrification technology that would shake up the automotive industry. As entrepreneurs, we cannot rest on our laurels. We have to grow our business and move up the value chain.” Scorpio Electric was thus born.
(Related: Eurokars' Charmaine Kwee on driving the family legacy)
Nevertheless, Goh had to earn his stripes. He was first in charge of maintaining dealership operations for Alfa Romeo, before tasked to set up the Jeep distribution business in Indonesia. Even though the Jeep distribution business eventually halted and ultimately had to be relinquished because of the pandemic and as part of a strategic business decision, Goh chose to focus on the silver lining instead.
“My experience taught me that not everything would go according to plan, and the importance of finding solutions through strategic thinking rather than stubbornness.” This he says, is also thanks to his years away from the family business.
“The time spent away from the automotive industry helped me gain a broader perspective, and gave me the confidence to make good decisions and steer the business in the right direction.”
“The time spent away from the automotive industry helped me gain a broader perspective, and gave me the confidence to make good decisions and steer the business in the right direction.”
In 2020, after Scorpio Electric raised its first independent round of funds, Goh transferred to the subsidiary. Two years later, he took over the reins of CEO from his father. Since then, he has carved out a few more milestones of his own, including the successful completion of the flagship Scorpio Electric X1 prototype, and two fundraising rounds amounting to US$6.75 million. In its last round of fundraising in 2023, Scorpio Electric achieved a pre-money valuation of US$150 million.
- CARVING HIS OWN PATH
- ON THE FAST TRACK
On the Fast Track
Operating as a high-growth start-up in what Goh describes as a “limited automotive ecosystem in Singapore”, obstacles for Scorpio Electric are par for course. At inception, his father’s initial idea of tapping on the “rapidly maturing electric vehicle ecosystem” in China to white-label an automotive product at a lower cost had to be scrapped. Instead, the company turned its efforts to strengthening its engineering capabilities to “create a superior product”. The X1, which is slated for delivery in Q4 of 2025, is a culmination of these extensive development efforts.
Goh’s next big challenge would be to sway consumer sentiment. Compared to traditional petrol-guzzling models, electric motorcycles are often more expensive, while the current lack of charging points can be a hindrance. Nevertheless, Goh, who has recently successfully secured a Special Purpose License from the Land Transport Authority to conduct durability and endurance tests for the X1 on public roads remains highly optimistic.
“As the first electric motorcycle brand in Singapore, we have made people sit up and take notice – this is a good first start. It is only natural to have apprehension about change, and the adoption of new technology. The electrification ecosystem in Singapore will take time to mature and develop.”
“While the initial price point may seem higher, we are focusing on the overall cost savings – reduced maintenance costs, lower fuel expenses, and government incentives. As the charging infrastructure improves, we anticipate that concerns about convenience will gradually diminish.”
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At the same time, he has his sights set on shores far beyond Singapore, including the wider ASEAN and European regions, for the launch of the X1. After all, with Scorpio Electric, Goh has loftier goals beyond putting its futuristic-looking bikes on the roads – he also hopes it can usher in a new era of sustainable transportation for the greater good.
“The pandemic gave us a glimpse of what’s possible: Clear skies, fresh air, and an environment low on noise pollution. Our efforts for sustainability are not just for us, but for future generations to come. We believe it is only a matter of time before electric motorcycles become the norm.”
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