Early February Update
This week I was noticing that Velomobiel
has a number of velomobiles on inventory ready to be sold (see item
below). This is interesting for those
riders who want to purchase a velomobile immediately. So far velomobiles have been mostly sold as a
slot in the production. Many people have
complained that they did not want to wait so if clients are informed that they
can get one immediately, this may have an impact on velomobile sales. I am surprised that this is not on Velomobiel’s
home page instead of being mentioned in the comments in the order book. If people know there are new ones available
right now, they may make a quick buying decision.
Some larger dealers have already started
ordering velomobiles to keep in their showroom.
Some of those have asked for a premium when selling these velomobiles
from the showroom and some clients may not be ready for this additional outlay.
Except for the QuattroVelo that is still in
development, we have seen the production backlog get smaller and smaller over
the last year (same at ICB). As a
result, the waiting time is about two months for a new velomobile, which is
probably the shortest it has been in the past 15 years. In my estimation the Romanian factory is able
to produce significantly more velomobiles than are currently sold at the
moment. This is not to say that new models
like the QuattroVelo will have the same short waiting period, there is a
significant number on order and the production needs to ramp-up. I estimate that at first a single set of mold
will produce about four QuattroVelo per month so the person who orders today
will probably have to wait roughly nine months from the start of production to
take delivery. However, if demand keeps
up, I expect that a new set of molds will be produced probably 6 months later,
when Allert is satisfied with the design.
This will potentially double the maximum output to 8 velomobiles per
month.
I expect that since Romania may have spare
capacity for some models, they can produce for the inventory and maybe some
people who had placed orders earlier may have decided to cancel or to change
model (e.g.: QuattroVelo) when the velomobile they had ordered was already in
production.
I will keep an eye on the production and
the inventory over the next few months.
Velomobiel
There were only 3 deliveries in January at
Velomobiel; one Quest and two Strada velomobiles. It is normal to see a slow down in the number
of deliveries at this time of the year with a lot of staff on vacation. In addition, I expect that significant
resources at the Romanian factory have also been used to produce other
components such as the molds for the QuattroVelo . You can already see in the first week of
February that things are picking-up.
In January Velomobiel sold 11 velomobiles
including one Quest. Two Carbon Quest, one Carbon XS, two Strada and five
QuattoVelo and there were 65 velomobiles on order at the end of January but it
appears that five of those are in fact in stock and available for immediate
sale (three Strada, a Carbon Quest and a Quest).
This is interesting for those riders who
want to purchase a velomobile immediately.
So far velomobiles have been mostly sold as a slot in the
production. Many people have complained
that they did not want to wait so if clients are informed that they can get one
immediately, this may have an impact on velomobile sales. Some dealers have asked for a premium for
velomobiles purchased from the showroom so clients may not be ready for this
outlay. Except for the QuattroVelo that
is still in development, we have seen the production backlog get smaller and
smaller over the last year (same at ICB).
As a result, the waiting time is about two months for a new velomobile
which is probably the shortest it has been in the past 15 years. In my estimation the Romanian factory is able
to produce significantly more velomobiles than are currently sold at the
moment. I will keep an eye on this over
the next few months.
IntercityBike
Over the past few
weeks, there were rumours that Daniel is going to build a four-wheel
velomobile. This week Daniel posted on-line
that the project was underway but there has been no official announcement. I think that ICB identified that there is a
demand for a 4-wheel product. This is
not surprising since Velomobiel has some 45 on order and many people are
waiting to see the product on the road and maybe test drive the production
model before making a commitment. I
expect that the ICB design may be sportier and performance driven than the
QuattroVelo, Daniel said that it will be about the size of the DF-XL. My guess is that the ICB model will be lighter
with more composite components and probably a bit more streamlined while still
providing more stability and increased payload capacity over the three-wheel
DF.
This increases my
concerns regarding the grey area of legality in many jurisdictions where
bicycles are defined as having two or three wheels and getting all these rules
updated may take a long time. In the
mean time, pioneers may have to deal with authorities to get the right to ride
their four-wheel bicycle on the road.
There is no velomobile club or industry association to lobby officials
for the change.
Meanwhile at ICB, only
2 DF were delivered in January. Since
they produce in the same factory as Velomobiel, my observations above are
similar but I will also add that the factory has bee busy filling-out orders
for DF hoods and is also gearing-up to produce ICB designed hoods for the
Quest/Strada and Mango as well as the new wheel pants for the DF/DF-XL/Evo-K,
Ks, R. Just like Velomobiel, the first
week of February is showing an increase in deliveries.
At the end of January
there were 19 DF and 16 DF-XL for a total of 35 units on order. Sales in January included 5 DF and 5 DF-XL.
Bluevelo
Following my report last I received an
e-mail from Randy at Bluevelo and I posted the response in the comments and
some of you may not have returned to read the comments so here it is.
"We
at Bluevelo are extremely touched by all the wonderful replies
in response to the recent news on Luc's blog and BROL. What a great group of
people. You never cease to amaze us. Our hope is to keep everyone positive
and excited about the future of the sport.
The
last thing we would want is for any kind of "us vs them" attitude to
develop towards the Netherland companies. That is certainly not the case and
there are no ill feelings about the way things have gone. Our relationships
with everyone in Europe over so many years have been amazing. A "sign
of the times" hits the nail on the head for the direction things have
taken. Let's keep working together as preserving the positive energy of the N.
American velomobile community and continued growth of the
industry should be top priority for all."
Laidback Report
Just a reminder, On Sunday February 7th
at 3PM EST, the video podcast The Laidback Report (www.laidbackbikereport.com)
will be dedicated to the world of velomobiles. Velomobilre riders Josef Janning, Doug Davis, Lars Komm and myself will
answer questions from host Gary Solomon will to initiate new people to the
world of velomobiles. Don’t worry if you
missed the live podcast, you can catch the show on You Tube here https://www.youtube.com/embed/b80pmCYAExo
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