Vectrix financially close to bankruptcy?

Vectrix goes belly up...
they say it's new CEO's fault, who focused on another bike (http://car.pege.org/2009-salzburg/e-max-vectrix.htm) and forgot about VX1...
they know, how to make the bike, but they don't know, how to make business..
the marketing has been extremely poor... they just don't know, who the customer is... is it a luxury product or not?
how many salespeople are there in Vectrix?...

"Middletown, R.I.- March 31-Vectrix Corporation (www.vectrix.com), the maker of the world's first high performance, two-wheel zero emission vehicle, announces that the Directors expect that the Company will not be able to publish its Report and Accounts for the year ended 30 September 2008 (the "Accounts") until, inter alia, the successful completion of a fund-raising exercise. Therefore, the Company is not in a position to publish the Accounts by 31 March 2009, as required by the AIM Rules, and accordingly trading of the Company's common stock on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange will be suspended with effect from today, pending publication of the Accounts."

from: http://www.londonstockexchange.com/en-gb/pricesnews/prices/system/detailedprices.htm?ti=VRX

this company has never made profit...
Now is the best time to buy this company... but who wants to buy it?! this bike still needs a lot of $$$ to be invested... it's already an old bike... with old technology (Ni-MH battery)...

I've had some 3000 stress-free miles using this 'old' technology. How old is the technology in the internal comustion engine then? I'd rather go with what is tried and tested, let others be the guinae pigs if they want - my $$$ paid for my Mi MH pack and I'm quite happy with it, thanks very much.

Looks like they are looking for a merger or sale...
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2009/04/14/afx6289133.html

http://www.house.gov/frank/fy10appropriations.html

2.5 million in government money but they have to survive until the fiscal year begins (Oct 1, 2009). If approved it would keep the heartbeat alive for a few months, maybe a year. It is not enough capitol to turn on a factory without assistance (they need to sell of current inventory).

http://www.house.gov/frank/fy10appropriations.html

2.5 million in government money but they have to survive until the fiscal year begins (Oct 1, 2009). If approved it would keep the heartbeat alive for a few months, maybe a year. It is not enough capitol to turn on a factory without assistance (they need to sell of current inventory).

However, that earmark is for research into improving the drivetrain - not keeping the company operations going.

Vectrix has delayed reporting financial info... They need money fast.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/motoringAutoNews/idUK59305+31-Mar-2009+RTRS20090331

It looks like Reuters has taken down their article. The link no longer works...

I sent this email to Vectrix on June 12:

Sirs,
Rumors are flying about Vectrix going out of business. I see that there is no information on your website about this. I'm hoping that it's nothing but rumors.
I bought my Vectrix last August so I still have >1 year on my warranty. I would like to know how my warranty will be affected, if at all, by this possibility of Vectrix going out of business.

Thanks,

David

I have receive no reply as of yet and don't really expect one. But if I do receive a reply I'll post it here.

By the way I stumbled across this website today:

http://hybrid-battery-repair.com/hch/services.html

They claim, "We can fix any EV Battery pack" I wrote this email to them:

I have a Vectrix electric motorcycle (http://www.vectrixusa.com)

I haven't had any problems recently, but would like to know if you could provide a battery replacement, when I need one. It is rumored that Vectrix may be going bankrupt. (If they haven't already).
About how much would it cost?

The other question I have is this - could you potentially replace the Nickel Metal Hydride with a Li-Ion battery of the same voltage/ with a higher kW-h rating? About how much would this cost?

Thanks,

David

P.S. The stock battery is MiMH, 30 Ah, 3.7 kW-h, 125V

If and when I receive a reply I'll post it here.

Happy riding!

I already received a reply from http://hybrid-battery-repair.com/hch/services.html

I can't replace it, but I shouldn't have any problem repairing it. To replace it I would have to have a source of Vectrix packs. It sounds like it may be "D" cells, so repair should be easy.

Replacement with lipo [sic] is probably not an option. There is no way the battery management circuitry would be compatible.

Cost would be the save [sic] as the car packs. I charge $600 for labor plus parts.

How nice when people reply to emails... :-)

I've had my Vectrix for a year now and it never ceases to amaze me that absolutely no one, NOT ONE person that I've talked to since I bought it - had EVER heard of it. To this day anyone that sees my bike asks the same question with a dumbfounded expression on their face, "Is that REALLY electric?!" When I first bought it I grabbed a handful of the postcard sized ads from the dealer and put them in the glovebox of the bike. I quickly passed them all out.

My question is this: Shouldn't Vectrix have done more advertising? Has anyone ever seen a TV ad or heard a radio ad for the Vectrix? I certainly haven't. It could be they just never advertised in the area where I live, but still I wonder how they would've done if they had saturated the TV and radio with ads for this awesome bike...

I asked for clarification about the battery-repair from http://hybrid-battery-repair.com and received this reply right away:

Nimh cells are good for 30 years. When used in series they can and do go out of balance as the individual cells age at different rates. Once they're out of balance, some will be stressed by others and their capacity will deteriorate and accelerate the balance problem.

I recondition the cells and identify and replace the ones that are too far out of spec.

I don't think the expected life of hybrid batteries has actually been determined yet. The earliest insights are still under warranty (under 10 years). I only see cars that are out of warranty, and I'm seeing cars that range from 100,000 to 300,000 on the battery with the average at about 175,000.

Hi oobflyer, you might be right...

It seems that we will have alternatives in the event that Vectrix does go under. I like what one member wrote about comparing the Vectrix to the EV-1; it will become an instant classic (if Vectrix goes out of business) - we will own priceless museum pieces! :-)

But I purchased my vectrix for the trip to work and back each day, not to visit it on its "birthday" in a museum. Even if I still own it.
It should work for at least 58000 km and another 5 years, otherwise the purcase has a negative bilance for me. And i´m affraid the
bike won´t last such a long time...

Greetings from Austria
Mikemitbike

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