VanMoof, the Dutch e-bike maker that gained a zealous following however declared chapter final month, has been acquired by Lavoie, an upscale electrical scooter firm, the companies introduced on Thursday.
Riders of the costly and technologically superior VanMoof bikes had been left in limbo by the corporate’s chapter, as a result of the machines are constructed from proprietary components that solely the corporate made and most of the bikes’ capabilities are linked to a smartphone app that runs on the corporate’s servers. Regardless of the thrill across the model, VanMoof had run into monetary issues that led to a manufacturing backlog and monthslong waits for gross sales and repairs.
However riders is not going to be fully out of limbo underneath the brand new possession. “What they’ll’t count on within the first couple of weeks is definitive solutions to the issues,” stated Nick Fry, the chairman of McLaren Utilized, the British motorsports know-how firm that owns Lavoie.
The value of the acquisition was not disclosed, however Mr. Fry stated Lavoie would spend “tens of hundreds of thousands” on the transaction in addition to in investments over the approaching months to “rectify among the challenges we face.”
“This isn’t going to be a stroll within the park,” he stated. “That is going to be a problem.”
One of many new proprietor’s priorities, he added, is enhancing the provision of components and repairs, one thing that had turn into more and more troublesome for VanMoof homeowners. Common bike outlets couldn’t — or typically wouldn’t — repair the bikes.
Mr. Fry stated he wished different bike mechanics to have the ability to repair VanMoof bikes and possibly make the bikes accessible on the market in retailers aside from the outlets owned by the model.
One other precedence, he stated, is to handle among the reliability points that plagued the bikes.
“It’s damaged usually,” Johan Alderden, a VanMoof proprietor from the Dutch city of Aalsmeer, stated this summer time after information of the chapter unfold. However echoing many different homeowners, Mr. Alderden stated that “if it’s working, it’s superior.”
It’s unclear what’s going to occur to clients who paid for VanMoof bikes however had not but acquired them by the point the corporate went bankrupt, Mr. Fry stated, including that it was “not one thing we might attain an settlement on with the earlier proprietor.”
Lavoie not too long ago began gross sales of a high-end electrical scooter, which prices greater than $2,000, based mostly on Method 1 applied sciences developed by its father or mother firm.
VanMoof, which was based in 2009 by two brothers, Ties and Taco Carlier, tripled its gross sales within the pandemic and had raised greater than $180 million in funding. The bikes’ design put the battery contained in the body, serving to shield it from rain and thieves, and giving VanMoof bikes their signature streamlined look.
Because the e-bike market boomed, the corporate bought about 200,000 bikes for upward of $2,000 every, and opened shops throughout Europe, america and Japan. Within the e-bike world, VanMoof was usually likened to Apple or Tesla, given its elegant designs, heavy use of customized supplies and premium costs.
“VanMoof and Lavoie match collectively completely,” Eliott Wertheimer, Lavoie’s chief government, stated in a press release. (Lavoie has additionally been in comparison with Apple for its scooters’ glossy, high-tech engineering.) For VanMoof homeowners world wide, Mr. Wertheimer stated he wished to “hold these riders on the street.”
