{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Micromobility Podcast","title":"Ex-Stromer CEO is building a Hyperbike - Tomi Viiala, Founder Viiala","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3142,"description":"In this episode of the Micromobility Podcast, Prabin Joel Jones sits down with Tomi Viiala, former CEO of Stromer, to talk about building one of the most distinctive premium e-bike brands in the world and his next, far more ambitious project: Viiala.\nTomi spent more than a decade at Stromer, helping take the Swiss speed-pedelec company from startup to an international brand operating across 25 countries. During that journey, Stromer pushed e-bike pricing from around €5,000 into the €10,000+ range, pioneered connected bikes, and built an unusually loyal community around the riding experience rather than individual components.\nWe discuss why Stromer succeeded in creating a premium category, why Belgium became one of the world's strongest markets for speed pedelecs, why Germany has struggled to achieve the same adoption, and what Tomi learned about brand, pricing, distribution, product quality and protecting resale value.\nThen we get into what comes next.\nTogether with former Audemars Piguet CEO François-Henry Bennahmias, Tomi is building Viiala, a new company developing what it calls a hyperbike.\nThe first bike is expected to start at around €30,000, with a new motor system, battery technology, advanced electronics, V2X connectivity, integrated safety systems and a connected helmet ecosystem. Rather than designing a bike to hit a predetermined price point, the team is taking the opposite approach: engineer the system they want first and determine the price afterwards.\nViiala also plans to source around 90% of its components from Europe, manufacture its carbon frames in Slovakia, assemble the bikes in Europe and initially produce only around 300–500 units of its first hyperbike.\nWe talk about:\n• How Stromer created a cult following around speed pedelecs\n• Why getting customers on a test ride was more important than talking about price\n• Building a brand instead of selling Shimano, Bosch or other component specifications\n• Why Stromer avoided model years and heavy...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/at7G3gxGDWglvTJ3FfhPtfaxPELHBPmCFC9m1Fl166c/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8xZjFh/Y2JhNjg4Mzg5MzJi/ZGJlMGFmNjA4ZjU4/NzMzOS5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}