In a not entirely unforeseen turn of events, Dutch electric bike brand VanMoof has just found a buyer to scoop up the bankrupt e-bike maker. McClaren Applied’s scooter brand Lavoie purchased the company and looks set to try and roll it into its micromobility portfolio.
To refresh your memory, VanMoof recently took a glossy tailspin into financial peril, ultimately ending in the Dutch company’s bankruptcy.
The e-bike maker’s tech-forward design approach took the brunt of the blame, having created impressively innovative electric bikes but resulting in components that were costly, prone to failure and difficult to service during a supply chain crunch.
As broken bikes piled up, so did the unpaid bills.
But now there’s new money in the picture as McClaren Applied’s electric scooter unit Lavoie agreed to purchase what remains of VanMoof. The deal will see a quick infusion of tens of millions of pounds to stabilize the company, according to Reuters.
Over the long term, that figure is expected to grow significantly.
Lavoie plans to retain VanMoof’s departmental managers and will attempt to hire back many of VanMoof’s former employees that were let go leading up to and after the bankruptcy this summer.
It’s not yet clear just how much of VanMoof’s operations will change under new ownership, but we’ve already learned that the company will abandon its in-house retail store approach and will instead use a third-party retailer sales model for sales and service.
While VanMoof suffered from issues related to its high-tech electric bikes, the company had been in the process of correcting those missteps with a new generation of e-bikes. The new models were unveiled earlier this spring, but never made it to market due to the company’s intensifying downturn.
Now Lavoie wants to make sure those new VanMoof models finally see the light of day. And if the company designed them well enough while taking into consideration the problems that led to its own demise, then perhaps those new e-bikes are the key to a VanMoof revival.
That chapter in the ongoing VanMoof saga has yet to be written.
Author: Micah Toll
Source: Electrek
