Unable to pay A Chinese auto parts manufacturer is set to acquire the German flying taxi startup Volocopter, only weeks after Lilium, another German company in the same industry, failed.
Volocopter’s assets were valued at approximately 42 million euros, while the Chinese company Zhejiang Wanfeng Auto Wheel Co. set the transaction’s price tag at 10 million euros ($10.9 million).
Volocopter, which was founded in 2011, declared bankruptcy in December.
a goal of launching a two-seater flying electric taxi, called “Volocity,” by 2025 was derailed when test flights had to be canceled during the Olympics in Paris last year.
The engine of the aircraft was not certified by the Aviation Safety Agency of the European Union in time for the scheduled tests.
Zhejiang Wanfeng Auto Wheel announced earlier this week that it will purchase the German company’s assets and intellectual property rights, as well as take over contractual rights and responsibilities under the name Volocopter GmbH.
Volocopter has been approached by AFP for comment.
The controversy surrounding Germany’s backing for companies at the forefront of technology will be heightened by the acquisition of Volcopter by a Chinese competitor at a deeply discounted price.
Volocopter CEO Dirk Hoke told Capital magazine last year that “in a sector which is as technologically complex and capital-intensive as ours, we have to look to the state” for support.
Another German company, Lilium, which manufactures light electric aircraft, filed for bankruptcy again in February following the collapse of a rescue agreement with investors.
Last year, Lilium tried and failed to secure emergency funding from the German government.
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