Bicycle manufacturer VanMoof is taken over by Lavoie, a British manufacturer of electric scooters. Lavoie will invest “several tens of millions of euros” in VanMoof.
Lavoie’s parent company is McLaren, also known for Formula 1. Top man Nick Fry of that British company calls the takeover “exciting”. He wants to use VanMoof to become a leader in the world of electric mobility. McLaren underlines that it wants to keep VanMoof’s 190,000 customers “on the road” and develop the company further.
The deal will be finalized on Monday and more will be known about the future of VanMoof. Many customers still have money owed.
Bankrupt
The Amsterdam bicycle manufacturer was declared bankrupt on July 17. Several parties had bid on the electric bicycle brand.
The company suffered substantial losses, partly because it sold many bicycles with defects. Because all parts are produced in-house and there was often a shortage of laundry, repairs took a long time or were not possible at all.
Customers also often had to deal with long delivery times; sometimes it took up to six months before an ordered bicycle was delivered.
Since the bankruptcy, customers have to go to Kwikfit for repairs, instead of the VanMoof garages where repairs are covered by the warranty. Not all problems can be solved at Kwikfit because the specific VanMoof parts are not in stock there.
VanMoof was founded in 2009 and has sold just under 200,000 bicycles.
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