TL;DR
- New electric motorcycles from our moto line ship DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) — the quoted price already includes freight, import duty, and clearance. A dealer sees one number and marks up from it.
- Used cars ship EXW (Ex Works) — the China factory-gate price only. Freight, duty, and clearance get added afterward, and duty alone can run 20-35% of landed cost depending on the market.
- The Freego Nova 5 flagship e-moto (8000W peak mid-drive, ~110 km range) quotes at $3,509 SEA / $3,789 UAE DDP, against a $3,699 MSRP — a fixed, bookable number from day one.
- Neither category is “better” — they solve different working-capital problems. This post is about picking the right one for the cash position and turnaround speed a dealer actually has.
Two very different pricing models, same supplier
Ask a first-time buyer to compare a used car quote and a new e-moto quote side by side and the numbers won’t mean the same thing, even though both come from the same China-to-Southeast-Asia pipeline.
Used cars (EXW): the number we quote is what leaves the China lot. Everything downstream — ocean or overland freight, the destination country’s import duty and registration tax, port clearance, inland trucking — gets added on top, and it varies by country. A BJ40 quoted at $16,136 EXW lands at roughly $21,000 in Laos and $22,300 in Cambodia on the same unit, purely because of how each country taxes 4WD imports differently.
New electric motos (DDP): the number we quote is what the dealer pays, full stop. Freight, duty, and clearance are baked into the SEA and UAE price tiers before the dealer ever sees the quote. A Freego Nova 5 at $3,509 SEA DDP is $3,509 landed — no second invoice, no duty surprise three weeks later.
Why this matters for a dealer’s cash planning
DDP pricing removes a category of risk that trips up a lot of first-time used-car importers: not knowing the landed number until the shipment clears customs. That’s manageable once you’ve run the corridor a few times, but it’s a real problem on a first order, when a dealer is trying to figure out how much capital to actually commit.
E-moto DDP pricing is bookable on day one. A dealer comparing $3,509 (Nova 5, SEA) against local retail comps can commit capital immediately, because there’s no downstream cost still floating. Used car EXW pricing needs a landed-cost worksheet first — which we build for every quote, but it’s an extra step that DDP skips entirely.
Where the two categories actually compete for the same dealer
Most dealers running a mixed lot end up asking a version of the same question: given a fixed amount of working capital this month, does it go further in a used sedan or a fleet of new e-motos?
There’s no universal answer, but the shape of the trade-off is consistent:
- Used cars: higher unit price, higher margin per unit in absolute dollars, slower inventory turn, EXW-only pricing means the dealer (or we, on their behalf) has to model landed cost per destination market.
- New e-motos: lower unit price, faster inventory turn (especially in markets with growing last-mile delivery and ride-share demand), DDP pricing means zero landed-cost guesswork, and unit economics scale cleanly across a fleet order.
A dealer with $20,000 in working capital and thin cash-flow tolerance is often better served spreading that across 5-6 DDP e-motos that turn in weeks than tying it all up in a single used car that turns in a month or more once resale and paperwork are factored in.
The Freego Nova 5 as a flagship anchor
| Spec | Freego Nova 5 |
|---|---|
| Motor | 8000W peak mid-drive, 72V |
| Range | ~110 km off-road spec |
| Positioning | Flagship — top of the Freego off-road line |
| MSRP | $3,699 |
| DDP price (SEA) | $3,509 |
| DDP price (UAE) | $3,789 |
This is the top of the current moto lineup — the unit dealers use to anchor a showroom against the entry-level Nova 5 Mini ($1,229 SEA) and mid-tier Nova 4 ($2,269 SEA). Quoting the flagship alongside the entry unit gives a buyer a price ladder to walk a customer up, the same way a car dealer uses a top-trim demo unit to anchor a lot.
What we ship, moto line
- Pricing: DDP, fixed at time of quote — SEA and UAE tiers reflect the two duty/freight zones we currently cover
- Lead time: fleet orders (10+ units) get freight-cost efficiencies; single-unit orders are workable for dealers testing the category
- Reserve: wa.me/message/MSONHKRXXT7IO1 or the moto.ucarsea.com lineup page
Inventory · Dealer Partner Program · Inquiry
When DDP e-moto is the wrong answer
- Buyer specifically needs a car/SUV/van category: this comparison doesn’t apply — go to the used-car EXW inventory instead.
- Dealer wants maximum absolute margin per unit and has the capital float to wait: a well-chosen used car with a wide EXW-to-benchmark spread will out-earn a moto fleet per unit, just slower.
- Market has motorcycle-specific import restrictions or registration hurdles not yet verified: confirm local classification before committing to a fleet order — DDP covers China-side and freight/duty, not local registration compliance quirks.