“This VanMoof really works!”, reports someone who offers his bike on Markplaats. Another admits: “Unfortunately, the bike is broken”, and she adds: “After a serious accident I don’t dare to ride it anymore , so I’m not going to have it made.”
But yes, that is precisely the problem: VanMoof’s electric bicycles break down quite often, repairs often take a very long time and now that the bicycle manufacturer has applied for a deferment of payment and has closed all its branches, repairing becomes even more difficult.
If you would nevertheless like to purchase a VanMoof bicycle, you should do so now. The manufacturer is almost bankrupt and has a sales freeze. But for many owners, that is the signal to put their bike up for sale. Around lunchtime on Saturday there were about 180 copies on Marktplaats, considerably more than a week ago, according to the advertising website itself. Remarkably enough, many of the bicycles on offer are just new: two months, four months – those who want to make a move now will find them too expensive and too choice.
Offer an alternative to the car
VanMoof’s problems have been hanging in the air for some time. The bicycle manufacturer, founded in 2009 by the brothers Taco and Ties Carlier, has been making e-bikes since 2013 and had sky-high ambitions. The design was different, with, for example, the lighting beautifully incorporated into the frame. The technology was special: with a tap of the foot the rear wheel was locked, with an app it could be unlocked again. And yes, the price was also special, up to about 3500 euros. But hey, that’s still cheaper than a car, and that was what the Carliers had in mind: offering an alternative to the car with their VanMoof.
That strategy seemed successful. International investors invested tens of millions in the company, which opened stores in the United States, England and Germany, among others. Turnover grew rapidly, as did the number of employees, up to about seven hundred people this week.
But that growth did not lead to profit, on the contrary. Last year, VanMoof was in the red for about 80 million euros, the year before that as well. At the end of 2022, the company reported that it needed more money, investors were indeed willing to invest another million.
It wasn’t enough. Last week, news broke that VanMoof had been unable to pay interest on a crowdfunder loan, followed quickly by word that the company had been granted a court order, almost always the harbinger of bankruptcy.
One in ten had to return to the store
VanMoof seems to be a victim of its own strategy of producing all parts of its bicycle itself, and not, like all other manufacturers, buying parts from specialists. This approach had to result in a unique product. But it also meant that VanMoof riders with a broken bicycle could not go to an ordinary bicycle repair shop: they did not have those parts.
And VanMoof bikes often broke down: one in ten had to go back to the shop. Harmful for VanMoof itself: the repair costs were high. And annoying for the customer: they often had to wait weeks for repairs. Only recently can VanMoof owners also go to car repair company Kwikfit.
The court has now ordered a cooling-off period: for two months, suppliers or other creditors may not claim anything. For all those people who have ordered a bike that has yet to be delivered, and even those who have a bike in a VanMoof workshop for repair, the question is whether they will ever see their property again.
The VanMoof riders are rid of one worry: will the app that unlocks their bike remain in the air? The Belgian competitor Cowboy has now launched an app that makes this possible. It was immediately used a lot on Friday.
Read also:
Investors should come to the rescue of e-bike maker VanMoof despite years of growth
Despite increasing sales growth, e-bike manufacturer VanMoof has suffered large losses in recent years. Investors recently had to keep the company afloat with extra capital.
2023-07-15 12:54:40
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