Voxan at the cross-roads
Added on Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Voxan at the cross-roads
Can Voxan motorcycles rise again? The French manufacturer went into receivership again recently, but the rights to use the name have been acquired by Venturi MVS of Monaco. Alastair Walker looks at the odds of a V-twin comeback.
Voxan was a great idea; sporty 1000cc V-twin motor, available in a neo-Vincent, Black Lightning model, 70s Cafe Racer and Street Scrambler variants, and all made in France, one of the most influential nations in the early history of motorcycling. I rode all three Voxan models and the Cafe Racer was the nicest of the trio, with smooth, punchy power and steady handling. It’s nearest rivals were perhaps the big Guzzi 1100 twins. The chassis was a little different on the Voxan, with glue holding the frame’s top rails into a sturdy central section. But although Voxan had some novel ideas, they always lived hand-to-mouth and the factory at Issoire was sometimes a quiet place as workers went on short-time, or were temporarily laid off.
After a rescue a few years ago, Voxan is in toruble again and it is hard to see how the original plan of making three or four models from engine/chassis platform, especially as the world of V-twin motorcycling has moved on a great deal from the late 1990s when Voxan was founded. There are so many rivals now which didn’t exist back then, from the hi-tech and almost sci-fi styled Vyrus, to the raw, hard-edged performance of the KTM Super Duke 990, or Supermoto.
So, the latest news that Venturi MVS, a company based in Monaco belonging to Gildo Pallanca Pastor, currently building solar/electric hybrid cars highlights Voxan’s tricky position. Like Hesketh, the brand may be rebranded as an electric vehicle producer, with futuristic styling perhaps? That would undoubtedly go down well in France, where various regional `departments’ compete with each other to have prestigious technology projects on the go. As France has a much greater influence within the EU than Britain, there is always the chance of EU funding; free factory site, grants for research, indirect subsidies for workers etc.
As Graham Manchester, the UK importer of Bimota motorcycles told insidebikes recently; “There is no way you can make a low volume motorcycle in the EU now and not charge the best part of 20K for it. You cannot compete with mainstream factories, doing part-assembly in the Far East, so creating bespoke, hand-built bikes are your only option.”
If that is the case, then Voxan must realistically go down the hybrid, or electric motorbike route, if they want to survive - and fly the French tricolour - in the longer term.
Loading ...
No Comments