The curtain falls for Dutch three-wheeler manufacturer Carver. The Leeuwarden-based company has filed for bankruptcy.
Carver is a manufacturer of three-wheeled vehicles. A characteristic feature is the tricycle's tilting system, officially called Dynamic Vehicle Control. This allows the vehicles to tilt automatically when cornering, preventing them from falling over if they take corners at high speed.
Founded in 1994
The company was founded in 1994 by Chris van den Brink and Harry Kroonen. It was initially called Brink Technologies Group, which later became Vandenbrink and eventually Carver Europe. In the same year, Carver presented its first prototype and Dynamic Vehicle Control system.
Carver's first vehicle - the Carver One - was approved by the National Road Traffic Authority in 1997. The company received recognition for its Dynamic Vehicle Control system in the same year; the technology was named invention of the year by ID-NL. The Carver One was presented by Carver at the IAA in Frankfurt in September 1999.
Production to start in 2003
Series production of the Carver One started in 2003. From then on, Carver produced several dozen copies of the three-wheeler on an annual basis. Production ramped up further in 2006, with Carver entering into a partnership with Prodrive. This British company specialises in motorsport and vehicle technology.
This is not the first time Carver has filed for bankruptcy. The company also filed for bankruptcy in June 2009. At the time, it was forced to do so due to production problems. In 2010, the company made a restart. Besides producing its own three-wheeler, Carver has also focused on supplying its Dynamic Vehicle Control system to third parties since that year. For instance, the technology can be found in the flying car PAL-V, among others.
Electric version
Carver launched another new model in late 2015: an electric version of the Carver. The first prototypes were realised in 2017, after which pre-sales started in April 2018. The first examples of the electric Carver were delivered in 2019.
So now Carver is filing for bankruptcy again, reports the Leeuwarder Courant. The company had reportedly been struggling with declining sales and production for some time. This would include high costs and problems in the supply chain.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Photo: Carver Europe
