Merida Industry Co., Ltd (MIC; ) is a

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

-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 two 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. After making bicycles as an original equipment manufacturer for numerous other brands, the company established its own brand, ''Merida'', in 1988. 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 In the Roman army during classical antiquity, a centurion (; , . ; , or ), was a commander, nominally of a century (), a military unit originally consisting of 100 legionaries. The size of the century changed over time; from the 1st century BC ...

. 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. The name ''Merida'' derives roughly from the translation of its three syllables ''měi-lì-dá'', which mirror the company's goal to manufacture bikes that enable the customer to reach their destination.

History

The original Merida factory was organized after the

Raleigh Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

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. In 2001, Merida bought 49% of Specialized for a reported US$30 million, with its CEO and founder Mike Sinyard remaining the majority owner. In the past, Merida manufactured bicycles for companies including

Mongoose A mongoose is a small terrestrial carnivorous mammal belonging to the family Herpestidae. This family has two subfamilies, the Herpestinae and the Mungotinae. The Herpestinae comprises 23 living species that are native to southern Europe, A ...

. In 2007, Merida invested $7 million to renovate its 35-year-old factory in Taichung, without halting production.

Sponsorship

Merida has been co-sponsor of the Multivan Merida Biking Team, with athletes such as

José Antonio Hermida José Antonio Hermida Ramos (born August 24, 1978 in Puigcerdà, Girona) is a Spanish Bicycle racing, cyclist of Catalonia (Spain), Catalan origin specializing in competitive mountain bike, mountain biking. He won the silver medal at the 2004 Su ...

and

Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjå (born 10 February 1973) is a Norway, Norwegian cross-country and marathon mountain biking, mountain biker. She won the women's cross-country gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games and is a multiple World Champion. She has ...

, and of bicycle racing events such as the TransUK and TransWales mountain bike races. Since 2004, the team has been scoring over 30 World Cup wins as well as Olympic gold and silver medals. In 2013 Merida became co-sponsors of the Pro-Tour

Lampre-Merida UAE Team Emirates XRG () is an Emirati road bicycle racing cycling team, team. The team competes at UCI WorldTeam level and has done so since the UCI World Tour was formed as the top category of road cycling in 2005. Since becoming UAE Team Emi ...

road racing team and changed to

Bahrain–Merida Pro Cycling Team Team Bahrain Victorious () is a UCI WorldTeam cycling team from Bahrain which was founded in 2017. Its title sponsor is the government of Bahrain. History The idea for a Bahrain pro cycling team was started in August 2016 by Sheikh Nasser b ...

in 2017, which is called Team Bahrain Victorious since 2021.

References

External links

* {{Sports equipment brands Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1972 Cycle manufacturers of Taiwan Taiwanese brands Multinational companies headquartered in Taiwan 1972 establishments in Taiwan Mountain bike manufacturers

History

Sponsorship

See also

References

External links