Kymco appears ready to debut an adventure-oriented scooter, designed to handle pavement at speed, with mild gravel road capabilities.

Wait, who’s Kymco? Kymco is hardly a household name in North America (except forlong-distance scooter rally enthusiasts… ). But, it’s a massive player on the global two-wheeler scene. Based in Taiwan, with factories in other countries as well, it sells a wide range of scooters and small-cc motorcycles, the kind that the non-North American world actually uses for transportation instead of weekend fun. Long-time ADVers should remember Kymco also had a deal with BMW for years, manufacturing the single-cylinder engines that powered the G450X. Currently, BMW partners with Kymco for some of its maxi-scooter lineup, as does Kawasaki.

In other words, Kymco is a serious player, and if it decides to build an adventure scooter, the rest of the world will notice, even if Americans and Canadians don’t.

So what’s actually coming?

All we really know is what’s in the video clip above, plus the CV2 concept Kymco showed at EICMA in 2017, plus some gleanings from the rumour mill. Kymco has always been smart about exploiting new market opportunities, and no doubt the bigwigs see Honda is killing it with machines like the X-ADV and ADV 150. People want their scooters SUV-ized, and nobody else but Honda is doing it.

So, we get footage of a Kymco scoot zipping down tarmac, then some generic adventure sports footage to imply this machine is made for life on the edge, and then we get … distant footage of a scooter zipping down an unpaved road.

听起来像Kymco鸿的准备挑战da, then! Expect full details later, when Kymco releases the machine on Thursday, November 26. If it’s built along the lines of the CV2 concept, it will have the same basic package as Kymco’s AK550 maxi-scoot, with a DOHC parallel twin making 53 horsepower. Of course, you can expect a bit more suspension travel, and probably bigger wheels. Kymco actuallysells the AK550 in the US right now, so it would be theoretically easier to bring an adventurized version into the country, and you’d also expect Europe to get it. Canadians, though, will likely be disappointed, as Kymco seems to be on the decline in that market these days.