Have you heard of Voltz? Nicknamed the Brazilian Tesla, an electric motorcycle manufacturer that has seen significant growth since its inception.
Voltz, a Brazilian electric motorcycle startup, was founded in 2017 with the ambition of becoming the first Brazilian brand to invest in electric motorcycles. At first, sales were made via WhatsApp, but the company later opened several stores and had record sales, attracting large investors. The manufacturer was nicknamed the Brazilian Tesla due to its success.
However, Voltz is facing a financial crisis and may disappear from the market. Rumors about the company’s crisis have been circulating on the internet for a few months. The founder and CEO of the startup, Renato Villar, explained in an interview how the situation got to the current point. Basically, Voltz grew beyond expectations and was unable to honor its commitments. In about three years, they jumped from 100 to 2,400 motorcycles ordered and increased the number of employees by 10 times. The problem is that the manufacturer was unable to keep up with this sales boom and began to delay deliveries significantly.
According to a distributor interviewed by the website, at the end of 2020, his store received around 500 reservations from Voltz. Unfortunately, of the 178 orders delivered, 129 were canceled due to delays by the manufacturer. Unfortunately, this scenario was repeated in other stores.
In addition, Voltz delayed payments of commissions and termination fees to stores, also harming distributors. As a result, the company faces several lawsuits and saw its store network shrink from 70 units to just over 50.
The plan to return to the market
Despite the uncertain scenario, the entrepreneur who owns Voltz believes that the company can recover. To this end, major cost cuts were made in an attempt to organize the company’s operations and improve its financial flow. The company’s staff has been reduced to 100 professionals today, compared to the approximately 400 at Voltz’s peak.
The company’s factory remains active and produces around 70 motorcycles daily. However, this is well below the plant’s capacity, which can produce up to 200,000 units per year, which is around 550 motorcycles per day.
Renato Villar, founder and CEO of Voltz, plans to find a partner to take on the company’s project. The idea is to attract an electric car manufacturer so that there can be an exchange of technologies at first. Then, the businessman would try to sell the company to that manufacturer when the operation becomes sustainable again.
Despite the uncertainties, Villar is optimistic about his recovery plan. He says that the company is still going strong, even with the crisis, and that it is possible to get out of this situation. However, only time will tell whether Voltz will return to its glory days or disappear completely.
