Dongguan firm shows off its answer to the Segway

Three long-haired teenage models in colourful hot pants and tight tops glided freely along the carpeted runway on motorised scooters while flashes popped as hundreds of men took their pictures.

It wasn't a fashion show but a demonstration of a new product at the spring session of the Canton Fair, the mainland's oldest and largest trade show, which opened in Guangzhou on Tuesday.

Dongguan Robstep Robot was displaying the newest models of its motorised scooters, a Chinese version of America's Segway.

"This is the fruit of our research and development, based on technology from Taiwan and design from the mainland," said Li Peng, marketing head of the firm, based in Dongguan, a manufacturing hub in Guangdong province.

"Many Chinese consumers still don't know about the product, but sooner or later they will, because it is environmentally friendly and fun."

Formerly a supplier of moulds and dies for exporters, Dongguan Robstep was forced to reinvent itself in 2010 as wages and production costs soared, labour shortages worsened and the province encouraged industrial firms to upgrade themselves.