Just a few days ago, Yamaha offered visitors of the Indonesia International Motor Show (IIMS) a sneak peek of their Neo’s electric scooter. And our colleagues at AutoFun Indonesia got first dibs on one. 

The Neo's was also launched in Vietnam in December of last year and became available in that market early this year. Given these developments, there’s a probability that we could also see the Neo's plying Philippine roads in the near future.

But what’s with the apostrophe, you say? Well, we promise to ask Yamaha Philippines about it when we finally have this electric scoot locally.

Anyway, they might be trying to ride on the success of their little “off-road” scooter, the BWs. Then again, it doesn’t have the apostrophe. They could have just called it the Neo, so it would rhyme with their immortal scooter line Mio.

Speaking of which, the Neo’s seemed to have taken styling cues from the popular Mio Fazzio, with the cyan accents and that pronounced matte black panel bisecting the front of the leg shield. While the Fazzio has only an electric-assisted gasoline engine, the Neo’s has a battery-operated full electric motor.

The Mio Fazzio’s SRP has been constantly increasing in the past months, but the price tag on the Neo’s is already a bit steep, to begin with. Currently, the Neo’s is priced at 50 million Vietnamese Dong or around ₱116,000. That might be a deal-breaker for a good majority of Filipino buyers.

Yet, if I know Yamaha, they not solely focus on unit sales but also on branding and market presence. Think Tricity.

The Yamaha Neo's makes use of a new-generation brushless YIPU2 DC electric motor. There's 3 horsepower on tap and 138.3 Nm of torque available. Powered by a 0.96 kWh lithium-ion battery system, the Yamaha Neo's can travel a maximum distance of 72 kilometers

If the Yamaha Neo’s has one good selling point, it is the fact that it uses a removable battery that could be compatible with those battery swapping facilities that Pilipinas Shell and Globe Telecom have launched recently.

If you still need convincing, check out the features the Yamaha Neo's comes with:

• Full-LED lighting system
• Hydraulic brake system
• USB phone charging port and convenient front storage compartment for users
• Two driving modes: normal STD or ECO to save battery
• 27-liter trunk capacity, comfortable to store
• Digital instrument cluster, but the screen is quite small, and it supports connecting to smartphones via the Y-connect application
• Smart lock system like Janus and FreeGo scooter models

Is the price of the Yamaha Neo’s too restrictive for the average Filipino rider? Is the range too limited to be of use in daily commuting? What do you think?