Chinese Wanfeng wants to acquire German Volocopter

According to communications from Wanfeng to investors, Chinese concern Wanfeng wants to acquire Volocopter, the German maker of flying cabs that take off vertically. Volocopter initiated bankruptcy proceedings late last year and hoped for a relaunch with new investors. Wanfeng wants to acquire the start-up for 10 million euros.

Pioneer Volocopter makes vertically rising electric flying cabs called VoloCity. The company declared its ambition to fly people around the Olympic Games in Paris.

However, because it did not yet have an approval or type certificate in its pocket for an electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft with passengers from the European Aviation Authorities EASA, it was limited to conducting demonstration flights, including near the Palace of Versailles.

That permit for commercial passenger operations is still not there, but Chinese auto parts manufacturer Wanfeng wants to take over the German manufacturer anyway. However, nothing has been officially signed yet, and Volocopter declined to comment.

According to Wanfeng, Volocopter’s operations, with the book value of assets and intellectual property declared 42 million euros, would be transferred to a specially created subsidiary in Berlin, Heptus 591.

It would be integrated into the Austrian aviation company Diamond Aircraft, which the Chinese group owns and manufactures general aviation aircraft and motor gliders.

German flight taxi industry plagued by difficulties

Volocopter, launched in 2011, wants to build e-planes that carry multiple passengers. The company has received approval from the German aviation authority to produce these planes but was thus still waiting for European permits to fly them.

Last December, however, Volocopter filed for bankruptcy due to a lack of financing. A court in Karlsruhe then appointed a receiver. The goal was to preserve jobs and use the bankruptcy proceedings to rehabilitate Volocopter and make it sustainable and competitive.

Under CEO Dirk Hoke, who left the company at the end of February, Volocopter has already reduced its workforce from 700 to 500. The top executive said Volocopter is “far ahead of national and international competition both technologically and in the flight experience and certification process.”

It also recently signed an agreement with France’s Jet System Hélicoptères Services to develop flying cab services in the Paris region. According to German news agency DPA, the acquisition would, however, result in the dismissal of all 450 Volocopter employees. In turn, other sources claim that some 160 people will still be employed in the new structure after the acquisition of Wanfeng.

Volocopter board chairman Dieter Zetsche, once the chairman of Mercedes-Benz, had been leading a search for Hoke’s successor but had not made any moves so far given the company’s uncertain future.

Volocopter’s competitor Lilium, a German start-up, had also been in court reorganization since October but found an acquirer, the investor consortium Mobile Uplift, in late December. Some 750 employees previously laid off were brought back.

Importance of Chinese market

The Wanfeng group also holds a 55% stake in light aircraft manufacturer Wanfeng Aviation. The acquisition would give it an additional tool to introduce the VoloCity to the Chinese market, where it could fly as an autonomous eVTOL with two passengers without a pilot.

Today, most eVTOL flights in China are uncrewed. In January, for example, aircraft company Ehang completed a demonstration flight of its autonomous air taxi in Shanghai.

The Chinese government sees Shanghai as a leading hub for operational services in the low-altitude economy, which aims to transport passengers by 2027. Ehang’s fully autonomous EH216-S is the first passenger air taxi to receive certification worldwide.

Backed by the Berlin-based technology group Team Global, the Chinese company AutoFlight gained recognition in February last year for its world’s first achievements, including an inner-city demonstration flight between Shenzhen and Zhuhai. In March, its CarryAll cargo aircraft became the first eVTOL over one tone to clinch a type certification.

While technology is advancing rapidly and the buzz surrounding flight taxis has been significant, steel regulations in Europe need to be finalized. At the end of February, Benidorm became the first city in Europe to host a simultaneous test flight of a two-passenger air taxi and drones in an urban environment.

eVTOLs are generally promoted as sustainable and quiet, but they are not without controversy. According to an analysis of 11 studies by the Leibniz Center for European Economic Research in Mannheim, travel times will not significantly be reduced by the use of air cabs, while costs and CO2 emissions may actually increase compared to EVs. In return, urban air mobility could be particularly beneficial for emergency responses and connecting remote areas.