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 corporations introduced on Thursday.
Riders of the costly and technologically superior VanMoof bikes have been left in limbo by the corporate’s chapter, as a result of the machines are constructed from proprietary elements that solely the corporate made and lots of the bikes’ capabilities are linked to a smartphone app that runs on the corporate’s servers. Regardless of the excitement 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 won’t be fully out of limbo underneath the brand new possession. “What they’ll’t anticipate within the first couple of weeks is definitive solutions to the issues,” mentioned Nick Fry, the chairman of McLaren Utilized, the British motorsports expertise firm that owns Lavoie.
The value of the acquisition was not disclosed, however Mr. Fry mentioned Lavoie would spend “tens of tens of millions” on the transaction in addition to in investments over the approaching months to “rectify a number of the challenges we face.”
“This isn’t going to be a stroll within the park,” he mentioned. “That is going to be a problem.”
One of many new proprietor’s priorities, he added, is bettering the supply of elements 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 mentioned he needed different bike mechanics to have the ability to repair VanMoof bikes and perhaps make the bikes obtainable on the market in retailers aside from the outlets owned by the model.
One other precedence, he mentioned, is to handle a number of the reliability points that plagued the bikes.
“It’s damaged typically,” Johan Alderden, a VanMoof proprietor from the Dutch city of Aalsmeer, mentioned this summer time after information of the chapter unfold. However echoing many different homeowners, Mr. Alderden mentioned that “if it’s working, it’s superior.”
It’s unclear what is going to occur to clients who paid for VanMoof bikes however had not but obtained them by the point the corporate went bankrupt, Mr. Fry mentioned, including that it was “not one thing we might attain an settlement on with the earlier proprietor.”
Lavoie just lately began gross sales of a high-end electrical scooter, which prices greater than $2,000, primarily based on Method 1 applied sciences developed by its mum or dad 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 defend 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, the US and Japan. Within the e-bike world, VanMoof was typically 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, mentioned in an announcement. (Lavoie has additionally been in comparison with Apple for its scooters’ modern, high-tech engineering.) For VanMoof homeowners all over the world, Mr. Wertheimer mentioned he needed to “hold these riders on the highway.”
