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RIP Voxan Electric Motorcycles, Venturi Calls It Quits

Even though still in a prototype phase and far from becoming a commercial reality, the mighty Voxan Wattman and whatever bikes could have followed it, are reaching a dead end. Gildo Pastor, the owner of the brand and manufacturer of the Venturi luxury electric cars calls it quits.
Voxan Wattman 1 photo
Photo: Voxan
Pastor acquired Venturi in 2000 and a decade later he would also acquire the iconic brand Voxan, openly stating that the aim was to revive the name and transform it into a premium electric bike maker.

Three years later, the Paris Motorcycle Show saw the Voxan Wattman prototype, a powercruiser with blistering specs and a promising fist step in the right direction for the resurrected manufacturer.

Health problems and the assassination of his mother cause Pastor to call it quits

Gildo Pastor has been through some rough "adventures" lately, suffering a stroke. As if things were not already nasty enough, his mother was assassinated as she was leaving from the hospital he was in.

It looks like these two unfortunate events took their toll on Pastor, who decided to put an end to both the Voxan project and the production of series Venturi electric cars. Pastor is said to intend to focus on land speed records and electric cars racing. Moreover, he is also to become the Consul of Monaco in New York, according to Le Repaire des Motards.

A 200 hp, 200Nm electric powercruiser was born... stillborn

Voxan Wattman was a mesmerizing presence at the Paris Motorcycle Show in 2013, and was a matter of either love or hate. Its 200hp motor had a peak torque of 200Nm (147.4 lb-ft) and could push the bike from 0 to 60 mph (100 km/h) in 3.4 seconds and from 0 to 100 mph (160 km/h) in 5.9 seconds.

Energy was stored in a 12.8 kWh 320V battery that could be charged to 80% in only 30 minutes. A full charge could deliver a range up to 180km (112 miles), which could also have been a strong selling point if the bike made it into the production phase.

The future of Voxan with Venturi is done for, this is a reality. However, the optimistic part of the brain refuses to believe this is the very end of the Wattman. With so much of the bike ready, we hope another investor would pick it up from where Pastor decide to let go and maybe we get to see a Voxan Wattman rolling down the street in the not-so-distant future.
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