Porsche’s electrical bike buying spree isn’t over. The German automaker introduced Thursday that it might be acquiring Fazua, an e-bike drivetrain producer that specializes in light-weight motors.
After shopping for a 20 % stake in the company earlier this yr, Porsche mentioned it might purchase all of Fazua’s shares, making it the latest e-bike company to come back beneath the automaker’s management. Porsche acquired a majority stake in Croatian e-bike company Greyp (pronounced just like the fruit) late final yr.
Fazua is an intriguing purchase for Porsche and will point out the route of the company’s future lineup of e-bikes. The Fazua Drive System, which unites the battery with the motor into one single unit, weighs solely 4.6kg (10 kilos) and is fully detachable, permitting clients to make use of their bikes both with or with out help. Fazua describes the system as “super lightweight, slender, and quiet, can be beautifully integrated in the frame and provides an exceptionally smooth ride.”
Started in 2013, Fazua entered the North American market late in 2019. The company provides its drive items to greater than 40 bike producers, together with Bottecchia, Canyon, Corratec, Fuji, Cairn, and Hercules, amongst others.
Porsche hinted at what’s going to come from these latest acquisitions, noting that it’ll set up two joint ventures with Amsterdam-based Pon Holdings’ enterprise fund Ponooc, which focuses on sustainable vitality and mobility tasks. The first will “manufacture and distribute a future generation of high-quality Porsche eBikes. The second will focus on technological solutions for the fast-growing micromobility market,” Porsche says. (Pon Holdings is additionally the guardian of a number of bike manufacturers, together with Cannondale, Schwinn, Cervélo, and Santa Cruz.)
The acquisition comes at a time of accelerated progress in the world of e-bikes. Sales of e-bikes are rising quicker than conventional bikes in most main markets. The COVID-19 pandemic was a significant component, with gross sales rising 145 % from 2019 to 2020, greater than double the speed of non-motorized bikes, in keeping with the market analysis agency NPD Group.
Porsche is no stranger to the world of e-bikes. Earlier this yr, the automaker unveiled a pair of high-priced, full-suspension electrical mountain bikes, the Sport and the Cross, that it’s making with long-standing companion Rotwild.
Porsche is the latest combustion engine company to dip a toe into the world of electrical two-wheelers. Often, if you hear about automobile corporations releasing their very own electrical bikes, it’s only a model licensing deal. (Think Jeep’s e-bike or these Hummer bikes from final decade.) Other occasions, it’s a much-hyped challenge that finally ends up falling sufferer to bigger company cost-cutting, like General Motors’ Ariv e-bikes. But sometimes, one thing fascinating emerges, like Harley-Davidson’s not too long ago launched Serial 1 e-bikes.
Based on its latest investments, Porsche appears comparatively critical about the way forward for e-bikes.