Starck prototype Voxan reaches £12,900 at auction

AFTER struggling along for 15 years, French manufacturer Voxan's hopes of a revival have been dashed once and for all as bankruptcy courts have forced the sale of the factory and all its contents. And in doing so, the legal system has brought a clutch of never-before-seen prototypes into the open for the first time.

Rather than being chucked in with the rest of the prototype models up for auction, the recent Voxan XV prototype, revealed in 2007, was sold on its own.

Styled by design legend Phillipe Starck – man responsible for the hideous Aprilia Moto6.5 and the world's most iconic lemon juicer – it was scheduled to go into production in 2009 as a limited-run machine, but Voxan's financial problems, which saw the firm close in December last year, mean this remains the only example.

It isn't known whether the engine in the bike is the stock 996cc, 100bhp V-twin used in the rest of the range or whether it's the 1200cc, 140bhp motor that Voxan claimed was to be used in the production bike. It eventually reached a price of £12,900, which doesn't seem bad, except that much of the prototype was made of modelling resin rather than real components.