David Beckham has purchased a 10% stake in Lunaz Design, a British-based company that converts conventionally powered vehicles to electric.
The company, founded in 2018 by David Lorenz and F1 World Championship winning technical director Jon Hilton, converts classic into electric, with a portfolio consisting of Rolls-Royce, Jaguar, Bentley and the world’s first electric Range Rover.
Commenting on his investment, David Beckham said: “Lunaz represents the very best of British ingenuity in both technology and design. I was drawn to the company through their work restoring some of the most beautiful classic cars through upcycling and electrification. David Lorenz and his team of world-class engineers are building something very special and I very much look forward to being part of their growth.”
Beckham has been joined by another group of investors, including the Reuben Brothers, the Barclay Family and Los Angeles based developer and tech entrepreneur Alex Dallal.
Silverstone-based Lunaz has also revealed plans to upcycle and convert a series of HGVs and industrial vehicles to electric on a mass global scale.
The company’s industrial vehicle offering will initially focus on heavy industrial vehicle classes 6 and 8, which includes HGVs, refuse trucks, fire engines and commercial vehicles like airport scissor lifts.
Lunaz said the move responds to the “pressing and legislated global requirement to transition fleets of all types to clean-air powertrains, in particular the planned ban on the sale of new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles from 2030.”
It adds that it will be significantly cheaper and ecologically more sustainable for fleet operators in the commercial and public sectors to convert HGVs and other lorries to electric than to scrap them and replace them with new electric vehicles.
In addition, Lunaz has also moved into an expanded manufacturing facility adjacent to its current site within the Silverstone Technology Cluster, in order meet its ambitions and following sustained demand for converted classic cars. By the end of 2021, Lunaz Group says it will double the number of jobs for engineers and manufacturing technicians. It also projects the creation of 500 highly skilled jobs by 2024.
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David Beckham buys 10% stake in vehicle electrification company