Just a month ago, Ford’s electric scooter subsidiary, Spin, announced that it was no longer operating in Spain. Also in Germany and Portugal in Europe. A total of 21 geographies. They were not profitable regions for the activity of the automotive company because they are “open markets” where regulators do not place limits on the activity of shared mobility companies. Now things have changed. Ford definitely leaves the electric scooter business and sells all its assets to Tier Mobility.
The German mobility company acquires some 50,000 Spin vehicles worldwide, mainly in the United States and Canada. It is, in fact, the German company’s gateway to one of the most competitive markets at the moment. And precisely where they have most of their core market. With this, and after the acquisition of Nextbike and Wind Mobolity, Tier already controls about 300,000 vehicles in 21 countries. Spin’s power in the United States is such that the brand’s activity in the North American country will continue to be independent of Tier’s activity. The United Kingdom division, from which the businesses are managed – those that remain in Europe – will join the buyer’s operations.
In the acquisition, it does not only include assets, it also applies to technology. One that Spin itself presented in Madrid a few days before announcing its migration from the country. In this case, Ford’s electric scooter subsidiary presented an automatic braking system for units that circulated on sidewalks or in prohibited areas. Also a radar sensor system that prevented the vehicle from parking in prohibited areas –mainly sidewalks–. The reality is that this technology was never put into practice.
From Spin they pointed out that, despite having it developed, implementing it in all their electric scooters meant being at a competitive disadvantage compared to the rest of the companies in the sector. They would only put it into practice if the regulation so requested. It never happened and, in fact, the new regulation and distribution of licenses for electric scooters –mainly in Madrid– has not yet arrived. Stuck since spring 2021, the matter remains in the same position.
In any case, Tier also has its own app-controlled parking system and a model similar to battery swapping.
Going for the great markets of the electric scooter
Tier’s purchase of Spin from Ford itself has a clear objective: to conquer the US market. The departure of Spin from Spain does not worry the company so much. In September 2021, the company announced its return to Spain after leaving in 2018 as a result of the operating license chaos. Zaragoza, Malaga and Madrid entered their pools.
The letter of entry was similar to the one that Ford has always defended: the regulation must be fair and must be mandatory for all players of the sector. Only under that premise could profitable businesses be built within the universe of electric scooters. Spin’s latest moves, which rushed out of some European markets without warning, pointed precisely to this lack of profitability. At least in Europe. Now, with the sale and definitive exit of the scooter business that they entered a few years ago, they assume that fashionable shared mobility is not a sector in which the multinational is comfortable.
This movement also comes hand in hand with a change in the structure of the company. At the same time that Ford announces the sale of its electric scooter division, they announce its restructuring. They definitively separate the area in charge of electric cars from the one focused on combustion cars with the idea of simulating the success of Tesla’s electric cars.