Your society Ymagine Bikes benefits from the “guaranteed French origin” certification: what does this certification imply?
Matthieu Gayral, sales director of Ymagine Bikes – “Guaranteed French origin” is actually a certification. We voluntarily asked AFNOR, which is a certification body, to audit us and certify the guaranteed French origin of our bike. This means that more than 50% of the cost price of the bike is French and that the bike is assembled in France. This also certifies that the frame and the engine come from French companies – in particular in our case the frame is manufactured in Saint-Étienne by the company ACI Groupe. The motor and battery come from the company ACTIA which is based in Toulouse, a company of 4,000 people who work in mobility in general, but also in aerospace, aeronautics, and also in the micro mobility and cycling.
The electric bike is enjoying some success today, but there are also many competitors on the market. What are your goals ?
Our number one objective is indeed to manufacture in France, but it is not all to manufacture in France. We also have to sell our products, that’s the crux of the matter! We think that this label will help us to reach another category of customers, so of course individuals who are interested in local production, but also companies, administrations who, as part of the CSR approach (social responsibility of companies) are increasingly looking at what they buy and where the products they buy come from.
Who is your “guaranteed French origin” bike for? What use is it intended for?
We wanted to make a bike that was as versatile as possible, so a bike that was both comfortable on the road, in town, for going to work on a daily basis, but also a bike that you will be able to use on weekends on slightly more degraded paths. So it’s a VTC, an ultra-versatile all-road bike, very comfortable and very well equipped for less than €3000.
What are your perspectives ?
Today our perspective is to make our bike known, then it is to develop our sales and our dealer networks in France; we have around fifty stores in France that trust Ymagine Bikes and we are of course looking for others, particularly in regions like the south of France and the southwest. Our perspective is to produce between 500 and 1000 bikes per year to achieve a very reasonable level of profitability and be able to sustain the company.
