-- Tomi Viiala, founder of Viiala AG former Co-CEO of Stromer, and one of the most experienced executives in the global e-bike industry, has set out a position that runs counter to the dominant direction of the cycling market: that the future of premium two-wheel mobility is not cheaper, more accessible, or more affordable. It is high end.
The argument draws on a parallel Viiala makes with the automotive industry. Seventy to ninety years ago, companies like Ferrari and Rolls-Royce made a deliberate decision to enter a market segment that nobody was asking for at the time. Nobody was demanding more expensive cars. Those companies created a category through design, quality, and technology, and built businesses that have endured for generations precisely because they did not follow the market. They led it.
Viiala's position is that the same opportunity exists today in e-bikes. "We go into a marketplace where nobody is," he says. "Quality, design, technology is our approach. In the luxury segment, you don't buy because you want. You have a choice to buy a high end product."
A Career Built on Building What Did Not Exist
Viiala's credibility in making this argument rests on a track record that spans more than three decades across elite sport, international business, and mobility leadership. As Co-CEO of Stromer, the Swiss premium e-bike brand, he scaled the company from a single-digit million turnover startup into an international benchmark operating across more than 25 markets, with revenues growing into the high double-digit millions during his tenure.
The company became, under his leadership, the global reference point for premium e-mobility.
That work was informed throughout by his background as a professional athlete, a background that shaped his approach to leadership in terms that carry directly into how he thinks about building businesses. Goal-setting, resilience under pressure, and the dynamics of high-performing teams are, in his framing, not metaphors borrowed from sport. They are the operational principles on which sustainable business performance is built.
The Category That Does Not Yet Exist
Viiala's current ambition, through Viiala AG, the brand-building venture he is developing alongside the consulting practice, is to create an e-bike category that does not yet exist. Products, in his words, that customers do not yet know can exist. The team he is assembling spans more than 20 nationalities and backgrounds, reflecting the global and cross-disciplinary approach he applied at Stromer.
The distinction he draws between the luxury positioning he is pursuing and the direction the broader market is moving is deliberate and specific. Most of the cycling and e-bike industry is currently focused on democratisation: bringing down price points, expanding access, and competing on value. Viiala's argument is not that this is wrong as a market direction. It is that it leaves an entire segment unserved, and that the brands willing to pursue quality, design, and technology at the highest level, without compromising to meet a mass market price point, will define that segment for decades.
Viiala AG
Viiala is a Swiss-based mobility company redefining what cycling stands for: from one option among many to the option people actively choose. Viiala wants to challenge and disrupt the cycling industry. Tomi Viiala and his co-founder Françcois Bennahmias former CEO of Audemars Piguet who knows the luxury market by his heart, wants to challenge the cycling market.
Viiala is building the next generation of premium e-bikes, with R&D hubs in Switzerland and Dubai. Engineered with 95% of components sourced from Europe and the USA, Viiala also plans to assemble in Europe. As cities grow more congested and riders demand more safety, efficient power management, range, design, and digital integration, Viiala challenges the status quo with a bold vision: no shortcuts, no compromises - only absolute performance and trust. “Our competition isnʼt other bike brands - itʼs every other mobility option you could pick.” Unveiled in 2025 as part of The Honourable Merchants Group and launching its inaugural bikes in 2028, Viialaʼs first model enters a new, untapped technological and innovation-led market in the segment. More than an ebike, it is a statement of possibility - where engineering, aesthetics, and purpose converge to create the ultimate riding experience for the cities of today and the roads of tomorrow.
About Tomi Viiala
Tomi Viiala is the co-founder Viiala AG, former Co-CEO of Stromer, former professional athlete, Swiss Olympic Diploma Coach, and book author. He holds dual citizenship in Switzerland and Finland and is an alumnus of Stanford University, London Business School, and the University of Rochester. For more information visit viiala.com.
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