Confidently, as we have come to expect from Flyer, the e-bike pioneer is presenting its new bikes for rough terrain this Wednesday. On the same day, the Blick and subsequently all major Swiss news media reported that Flyer intended to discontinue the production of e-bikes in Huttwil BE.

In September 2023, the former market leader in e-bikes had already announced massive job cuts. 80 of the 302 employees in Huttwil lost their jobs at the time. The company, which has been owned by the German company ZEG for many years, has apparently not managed to achieve a turnaround. According to the latest reports, 170 people are now still working at the Swiss headquarters. The majority of them are now also threatened with redundancy.  

ZEG is examining to reduce administration to a minimum, to relocate production outside Switzerland in future and to exploit synergies within the Group, writes Flyer in a press release. Employees can now take part in a consultation process and submit proposals on how the company and their jobs should continue. Involving the workforce in this way is common practice in the event of mass redundancies.

In 2009, Flyer opened its impressive new headquarters in Huttwil BE. During the coronavirus boom, the management had production capacity increased there. Four years later, things are apparently so bad that production in Switzerland has to be discontinued and outsourced. As part of the restructuring, the German parent company is considering "job cuts for large parts of the current workforce", Blick quotes from a statement by ZEG. The newspaper has learned from an insider that just 20 will remain.