Geely may take over aerial taxi startup Volocopter
As the news agency Bloomberg reports, citing insiders, Geely is said to be prepared to buy around 85 per cent of the shares in Volocopter for around 95 million US dollars. The family office of Gerhard Sturm, the founder of fan manufacturer EBM-Papst, is also said to be involved in the potential deal.
The fact that Geely is looking into acquiring Volocopter may sound unusual at first glance. However, Geely is by no means the only car manufacturer involved in the field of electric aircraft, which are sometimes referred to as ‘flying cars’. Stellantis is one of the largest investors in the American air taxi developer Archer. And the Chinese car manufacturer Xpeng has its own flying car business.
Geely itself has maintained close ties with Volocopter since 2019. At that time, the company was one of several investors. In 2021, Volocopter then founded a joint venture with Geely subsidiary Aerofugia in Chengdu, China, with the aim of bringing urban air mobility to China by 2026 at the latest.
Volocopter is in the same position as other air taxi developers: it is extremely difficult not only to develop an electric VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) and build a prototype, but also to bring it to market maturity. This requires complex type certification and, if necessary, authorisation for commercial flights if you want to operate the aircraft yourself. This process, before series production and delivery to customers can begin, can take years.
For example, Volocopter originally wanted to offer commercial operations for the first time this summer during the Olympic Games in Paris, but the project failed for various reasons. However, Volocopter was finally able to carry out a manned demonstration flight in a Paris suburb during the Olympics. However, instead of the current Volocity model, only the ten-year-old predecessor model 2X was used. Another test flight of the 2X was carried out on the grounds of the Palace of Versailles (see picture above).
In October, outgoing Volocopter CEO Dirk Hoke, former Airbus manager and future CEO of technology group Voith, warned in the German newspaper Welt of a new misjudgement by Germany with regard to air taxis. German car manufacturers once underestimated the importance of e-cars, while China was investing. Now China is massively expanding electromobility in the air. “While we in Germany are still discussing and presenting studies that this is all rubbish, China is going full throttle,” Hoke told the newspaper. “We have enough money in Germany and Europe – what we lack is the courage to invest in new technologies.”
In spring, Dirk Hoke openly warned of Volocopter’s insolvency and hoped for a state guarantee, which failed to materialise, as was recently the case with Munich-based competitor Lilium. Then, however, a further injection of money from the previous investors came to the rescue.
The same Welt article from October also reports on Geely’s great interest in Volocopter: According to industry insiders, the fact that the head of the future-oriented division Geely Technology Group, Zhihao Xu, joined the shareholder board this year is an important signal of Volocopter’s significance for Geely. And there is another interesting connection: In addition to Geely, Mercedes-Benz is also invested in Volocopter – and Geely founder Li Shufu is in turn the largest shareholder of Mercedes-Benz with a 9.7 per cent stake. And former Daimler boss Dieter Zetsche has recently become Chairman of the Advisory Board of Volocopter. So cars and flying taxis obviously go well together.
Volocopter is not currently commenting on the takeover rumours by Geely. However, CEO Dirk Hoke commented in an interview with Welt with regard to the joint venture with Geely: “The China axis is interesting for us due to the acceleration of the market. In my view, it will overtake all other markets in terms of attractiveness and investment behaviour.”
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