Vanmoof S5 and A5 with a massive price jump from May

After the bad news in January, according to which Vanmoof was on the verge of collapse at the end of 2022 and the end could only be averted by a round of financing, there are now signs of strategic restructuring. The goal is clear: Vanmoof has to make money with its bikes.

Accordingly, the Amsterdam-based company is massively changing the price: from May 2023, the current e-bike models S5 and A5 will each cost 500 euros more, as Vanmoof informed its newsletter subscribers. There are also signs of changes in other areas.

With the Vanmoof S3 (test) and X3, the e-bike manufacturer launched models for just under 2,000 euros in 2020. The manufacturer had offered the predecessor, the S2, at a price of well over 3,000 euros, which suggested that Vanmoof wanted to focus on massive growth due to the relatively strongly depressed price of the S3 and X3 models.

Despite the e-bike boom during the corona pandemic, the project was apparently difficult to achieve due to supply bottlenecks and high raw material and chip prices. Because of the rising component prices, Vanmoof was forced to increase the prices successively by 500 euros to increase.

According to another report from early 2023, the manufacturer is also struggling with quality issues of the e-bikes: According to the FD, the cost of repairing or replacing Vanmoof’s 3-series e-bikes under warranty alone amounted to a year 2021 to eight million euros.

With the (delayed) launch of the Vanmoof S5 and A5, the manufacturer has fixed some of the problems of the predecessors, such as the gear shift. With the S3/A3, Vanmoof relied on a four-speed gearbox, which sometimes caused massive problems when shifting from third to fourth gear. The new models only have three gears and, according to first impressions, do not rattle when shifting gears.

The new models were priced higher than their predecessors right from the start: When it was announced in April 2022, the manufacturer quoted a price of just under 2,500 euros, which was still valid during our first test drive. The purchase price is now just under 3,000 euros, which will rise to 3,500 euros from May.

When asked, Vanmoof spokeswoman Sofia Gerung told us: “The last thing we want to do is raise the price of our bikes. The current economic climate, high inflation rates and rising material costs mean that an increase of 500 euros is the only way to honor our commitment to offer the best possible city e-bike for our riders.”

In addition to the hefty price jump for e-bikes, Vanmoof is also changing its services: According to Gerung, the partner workshop network is being massively expanded. The existing network of certified workshops in cities around the world is also to be expanded “in order to be able to serve drivers more effectively in the future”. “By expanding certified partner workshops, we are drastically increasing the available service personnel and reducing service waiting times.”

While the partner network is to be expanded, Vanmoof plans to stamp out some of its own service hubs and rely on partners there. “Most hubs will remain as usual,” says Gerung.

“We are continuing to expand the service and are investing in smart, sustainable growth here.”

This decision was “the result of a change in strategy with the aim of [Vanmoof-Fahrer:innen] to serve in the best possible way”. When we asked whether Vanmoof’s new strategy corresponds to a consolidation, Gerung contradicted: “We are continuing to expand the service and are investing in smart, sustainable growth here. Consolidation rather describes the stagnation of a process and that’s not what we’re talking about, it’s a change in strategy.”

Vanmoof wants to explain more about cities and the size of the service expansion in a few weeks.

The expansion of the service network is particularly important in order to keep customers loyal and not let them down after the purchase. Because Vanmoof sells the majority of its e-bikes directly through its online store and not, like other classic bicycle manufacturers, through local bike shops, which also serve as a point of contact for defects and repairs. Other brands, especially those with custom-made components and software, are often rejected.

With the upcoming bike season and higher prices, Vanmoof hopes to head into a “solid year” (via Mirror) to start. According to the annual report, the management wants to embark on a path towards profitability in 2023.

Some of Vanmoof’s problems may be of its own making, but other companies in the micro-mobility sector have also suffered massively in the pandemic. Many manufacturers were only able to launch their announced products such as the Cowboy 4 (test) or the Ampler Axel (test) months late, which resulted in massive sales losses.