It looks like the final chapter in the troubled Vectrix story may well be about to be written, with a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing in the United States - an action that usually results in the liquidation of any remaining assets of a business.
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| At EICMA in November 2013 Vectrix still actively marketing the brand and promoting new battery technology within weeks of Chinese parent company Gold Star Battery suspending operations |
Based at New Bedford, Massachusetts with an assembly plant in Wrocław, Poland, Vectrix ceased all US operations as of December 31, 2013, although at that point it was planned to maintain the plant in Poland to fulfil obligations under a joint venture agreement with Daimler AG's Smart division.
First introduced in 2006, the Vectrix was a maxi-size scooter, and was said to be the first commercially available high performance electric scooter. Plagued by battery and production issues, the company first entered into a sequence of bankruptcy actions designed to protect it from its creditors in 2009, with its assets ultimately being acquired by the Chinese Gold Peak battery group at the end of that year.
Though re-launched and trading with some new model introductions and show appearances in the years since, and despite Vectrix models being named European e-scooter of the year (for the third consecutive year) at the Zolder circuit CleanWeek 2020 event in Belgium as recently as May 2013, in October last year, Vectrix lost its French distributor Italmotori after allegations of failing to ship scooters, batteries, and spare parts required for warranty repairs. This is believed to have been its third failed distributor relationship in that country.
Despite several promising advances in technology, including their patented Planetary Gear Drive and energy recovery techniques, numerous manufacturing problems resulting in failed batteries and non-functioning scooters resulted in Gold Peak deciding to cut their losses and close down all Vectrix's US facilities at the end of last year.
In documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in April this year, the company listed its assets as being between $1 million and $10 million, but its estimated liabilities as being between $10 million to $50 million.
