Several months after its bankruptcy and its takeover by Lavoie, the electric bicycle manufacturer VanMoof finally seems to be breathing. The company’s new leaders discussed their plans for the future, including the arrival of a VanMoof electric scooter.
VanMoof had a complicated 2023. But the difficulties are now behind them, say the company’s new managers. The electric bicycle manufacturer, which filed for bankruptcy in July, has since been bought by Lavoie, a manufacturer of luxury electric scooters. In a long interview given to The Verge on December 20, 2023, Eliot Wertheimer and Nick Fry, the new managers of VanMoof, spoke for the first time since the takeover about the future of the company.
Evoking their desire to reassure customers, to remain faithful to the company’s image, as well as their desire to reestablish VanMoof as a brand of choice, the new managers also spoke of a future new product. VanMoof will sell electric scooters.
VanMoof electric scooters, a big novelty
This is a novelty for the brand which had until then been limited to electric bikes. According to Nick Fry, interviewed by The Verge, “ VanMoof’s unexpected bankruptcy accelerated Lavoie’s plans to move into e-bikes “. Above all, it postponed the plans for the launch of Lavoie’s first electric scooter, the Series 1. The release of the model, which was to be available from November 2023, was finally postponed – and it will, ultimately, be sold under the name VanMoof.
“ The Series 1 scooter, developed by Lavoie and McLaren Applied, will be renamed VanMoof, and its launch is planned just after the VanMoof electric bikes go back on sale “, explains The Verge. “ The Series 1 was supposed to launch in November, but is currently being reworked with new colors, new materials and new finishes. The scooter will also use the VanMoof application, and its user interface on its integrated screen. “The scooters should therefore have the same navigation system” turn by turn ”, and the same anti-theft features.
The rebranding work, to move from a Lavoie scooter to a VanMoof model, postponed the sale of the first models by 6 months. They should therefore be available in the second quarter of 2024. Some details could be changed compared to the first photos of Lavoie’s Series 1 scooters, available on the brand’s website.
The Series 1 was developed as part of a partnership between Lavoie and McLaren Applied – Lavoie being a subsidiary of the latter. But, McLaren Applied should not be confused with the car manufacturer of the same name, McLaren Group. McLaren Applied, which was the group’s technology division, was purchased separately in 2021 by an investment fund, Greybull. The two are therefore no longer linked today.
However, there remains a certain automotive heritage at McLaren Applied: the company specializes in “ providing electrification, connectivity, telemetry, control and analytics solutions for a range of vehicles, from powersports to public transport », writes The Verge. And, now, with Lavoie and the acquisition of VanMoof, the brand is entering the micromobility sector.
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