EV Technology Group acquires Moke International for £46.2m

Moke International – the British firm behind an 'electro-mod' version of the open-sided Mini beach car from the 1960s – has been acquired by the newly formed EV Technology Group for $55.1 million (£46.2m). The move sees EVTG – led by Dutch entrepreneur Wouter Witvoet – take a 65% stake in the low-volume Buckinghamshire-based brand, with the option to claim all of the remaining shares. EVTG, incorporated on 30 March 2022, describes itself as a specialist in "electrifying automotive brands" and says this is the first of several planned acquisitions in this vein. Its mission, it says, is "to create and redefine the joy of motoring in the electric age". Moke's current management team will be retained as part of the deal and the company remains on track to start delivering its electric Moke recreation – built by Fablink in Northamptonshire – to customers in the coming months, having started deliveries of a petrol-powered continuation-style car last year. Speaking to Autocar in the wake of the announcement, EVTG CEO Witvoet explained his motivation for taking on the brand: "I'm a massive petrolhead – I love cars; I love racing them – but I realise we need to make the transition to EVs. "If you love cars and you love driving them for a different reason than going from A to B, there are almost no electric vehicles out there to buy. "The reason I started the company was with a mission to electrify iconic brands that promote the joy of motoring. And we'd like to create cars that you want to drive for more than just going from A to B." He cited Moke as a brand that embodies this vision neatly but would not be drawn on any others that could be acquired by EVTG in the future. "We have to define what iconic is," he said. Witvoet previously co-founded asset management firm Valour and says a number of investors that he knows from his time there – and at previous similar institutions – have followed him to EVTG, helping provide the funding needed to acquire automotive brands like Moke. Moke in particular was appealing to EVTG because of its established brand legacy, which promotes long-term shareholder value. Witvoet suggested that 'me too' start-ups with no history attached to their names would not be as safe an investment. Isobel Dando, CEO of Moke International, said: "These are brands that don't just have a feel of nostalgia, but that we can catapult into the future. So what does the Moke of the future look like? Not exactly like it did in 1964. "It's as important that you have legacy brand equity with equity we can build on for the future as well." She, too, would not elaborate on specific future plans for the brand, but said future products from Moke would not necessarily be tied to "the beach lifestyle" as is its debut car. Interestingly, EVTG's future expansion plans could see it come to serve as a parent company for a group of low-volume manufacturers, each of whom could lean on the extra financial stability and resource availability to bring their own products to market. Witvoet said: "A lot of EV brands have similar problems: they need manufacturing; they need batteries; they need powertrains... And in that segment, if every single brand goes at this alone, they're all going to spend the same working capital on those different elements. "We believe we can be a group with a multi-brand strategy with shared services and resources across the group that can effectively make this more efficient." Shared components between EVTG brands are very much on the table and Witvoet did not dismiss the idea of a bespoke modular platform being used as the basis for all its brands to launch low-volume EVs. EVTG's ambitions are firmly rooted in the low-volume segment. "We will never compete with the Tesla Model 3 or Volkswagen ID 3," Witvoet pledged. The focus is very much on high-margin propositions.