German automaker Porsche has acquired a majority stake in Croatian electric bicycle (e-bike) manufacturer Greyp Bikes, continuing its effort to acquire stakes in more companies to broaden its electric and digital offerings.
Greyp is a subsidiary of Croatia’s Rimac Automobili, which in tun is 24 per cent owned by Porsche after a share purchase in June, 2018 was expanded in the following years.
Porsche said its majority takeover of Greyp – which will leave only Mate Rimac and other Greyp founders retaining a minority stake in the company – will help to further expand its activities in the sector.
“Porsche is a pioneer of sustainable mobility and is consistently driving forward its e-mobility strategy,” said Lutz Meschke, deputy chairman of the executive board of Porsche AG.
“Porsche has been a leading provider of plug-in hybrids for years, in 2019 we launched the first all-electric Porsche – the Taycan – and last year, one in three of the vehicles we delivered was fitted with an electric motor. Our ambitious goal is to have a CO2-neutral balance sheet across the entire value chain by 2030.”
Greyp currently offers a number of e-bikes across three specific model ranges – the eMTB (mountain bike), the eSUV city/trekking bike, and the high-speed eHyper. A fourth model range, the eCity, is due to launch in 2023.
Mate Rimac, CEO of Rimac Group, aside the company now had a 100-people strong team that had “undoubtedly created the most connected and technologically advanced e-bikes on the market.
Porsche has claimed that it will also look to deploy the knowledge gained from the battery-electric drive in its vehicle models into the fast-growing e-bike market, which have a fixed place in Porsche’s e-mobility strategy.
Back in March, Porsche expanded its range of bikes with the Porsche eBike Sport and eBike Cross, both of which have almost sold out and received a positive market response.
As of March, Porsche had invested stakes in over 20 start-ups and eight venture capital funds, and is looking to invest a total of €15 billion in new technology over the next five years, with €6.5 billion earmarked as development costs for the hybridisation and electrification of vehicles.
A further €5.5 billion will be invested in digitalisation issues such as intelligent mobility offers, car IT, innovations and new business processes; and €3 billion in facilities relating to e-mobility such as charging infrastructure or buildings for the production of electric vehicles.
