The bicycle brand Ghost, which has been part of the Dutch public limited company Accell Group since 2008, has announced the strategic decision to relocate production from Waldsassen in the Upper Palatinate. The Group also states that around 80 employees from the Manufacturing Unit will be affected, but not the majority of the more than 120 employees from the Sales, Marketing, Service, Accounting and R&D departments. Strictly speaking, this means that the "Made in Germany" label for Ghost bikes is no longer valid.
Ghost Bikes is to be positioned for international challenges
With this step, the Accell Group is responding to the current and future market situation: After a sharp rise in demand during the pandemic, the industry is now in a phase of stagnation. But that's not all: increasing cost pressure and problems in the supply chains, together with high inflation and large inventories, are having a negative impact on business.
The relocation of the production of Ghost bikes to other European countries has two aspects. On the one hand, the Accell Group already has these production facilities in Turkey and Hungary for its other brands such as Haibike, Winora, Lapierre as well as Koga, Batavus, Raleigh and XLC. On the other hand, the factories are not located in the high-wage country of Germany, but in more favourable countries.
Kirsten Best-Werbunat, spokesperson for Accell, explains the relocation of production to BIKE with these words:
"In order to position Accell's German business for future growth in a challenging market environment, as part of Accell's global strategy we have decided to integrate the production of the GHOST brand, currently located in Waldsassen, into our existing European production network. This will allow the company to better utilise the resources and expertise within the Accell Group. We are endeavouring to find fair solutions for all colleagues affected. This decision has no impact on our service and the quality of our performance for our partners and customers in the bicycle trade. Germany remains one of our core markets. We also believe in the strength and future growth potential of the GHOST brand as part of the Accell Group's international brand portfolio."
For 30 years, Ghost bikes came from Waldsassen
Ghost Bikes was founded 30 years ago in a garage in Waldsassen. After completing their studies, founders Uwe Kalliwoda and Klaus Möhwald decided to turn their hobby into a profession. In 2008, they both sold the Ghost brand to the Accell Group. In 2018, one of the founders, Uwe Kalliwoda, left the company from Waldsassen. Production in Bavaria is now coming to an end with the relocation to Turkey and Hungary.
We will keep you up to date on further developments at Ghost here.
You can find out more about the state of the bike industry here:
Marc Strucken
Editor
