Aptera Delays 2e Launch Amid Funding Drought, Says Founders Not Ousted
By John O'Dell November 18, 2009
By John O'Dell, Senior Editor
Introduction of the long-awaited Aptera 2e all-electric three-wheel vehicle has been delayed until sometime next year, a quarter of its small workforce has been laid off and its co-founders have taken leaves - one of them permanently - as the company slogs through a painfully slow private financing campaign it had hoped to close by now.
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Aptera 2e prototypes sit on company's new assembly line earlier this year. Aptera has pushed previously planned 2009 introduction to 2010 because of financial woes.
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In a statement issued this morning in response to reports earlier in the week that it had canned its co-founders and laid off a large portion of its staff, Aptera CEO Paul Willbur said "we now have to adjust our production schedule to align with financial realities."
He didn't address reports of layoffs and board-ordered ousters of Aptera founders Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony, but confirmed that Fambro has taken a leave of absence and Anthony has severed his day-to-day connection with the company.
Apetera marketing director Marques McCammon confirmed in an interview with Green Car Advisor that the company has laid off 10 of its 40 employees.
The financial realities Wilbur referred to include a slowdown in the pace of private financing as investors wait to see which of the nation's entrepreneurial advance vehicle makers will be bolstered by large, low-interest federal funding from the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program.
Aptera's application earlier this year for $75 million in loans was denied because its three-wheeled vehicle wasn't eligible under federal rules that limited the loans to four-wheeled vehicles.
A subsequent change in the rules made Aptera and several other manufacturers of three-wheelers eligible and the company is filing a new application.
Investors the company had expected to step up with additional funding in its new round of private financing have been slow to commit, and without that funding or the federal loan money, Aptera apparently is running low on operating cash.
Thus the layoffs, the further delay in the 2e's already postponed launch date and what Aptera says is a money-saving decision by its founders to step aside.
Wilbur said in his statement that company co-founder Chris Anthony "is stepping aside from day-to-day activities" while co-founder Steve Fambro - who came up with the concept of a three-wheeler that used aircraft aerodynamics and has been the public face of Aptera for nearly five years "is taking a short leave of absence and will re-engage with the company in the new year."
McCammon insisted in an interview late Tuesday that reports Fambro and Anthony had been fired by the board were not corrrect.
Anthony had been spending "less than 20 percent"of his time on Aptera business for some tiome now and chose the financial hiatus as a breakway point to devote his full attention to his other companies, McCammon said.
Fambro's job as chief technology officer is safe, he said, but the budget for advanced planning and developent has been eliminated while Aptera works to complete its private fundraising and reapplies for the federal manufacturing loan.
"So he decided this was a good time to take some time off."
In a statment issued by the company this morning, Fambro appeared to confirm that version. "My advanced work is a lower priority for Aptera," he said. "We've got to be wholly focused on funding and getting the first 2e on the road."
Reports earlier this week cited unidentified Aptera insiders as the source of information that Fambro and Wilbur - whom Fambro helped recruit to Aptera last year - were at odds over the comany's direction, with Fambro pushing to start delivering cars using designs that had been abandoned while Wilbur and his team were holding out for a delayed launch to make the Aptera 2e as customer-friendly as possible.
In Wednesday's statement, though, Fambro says that changes made to his and Anthony's initial designs "are spot-on. They've made the vehicle safer, it [has] better handling and [is more comfortable."
We'll let you decide how much of that flowed trippingly from Fambro's tongue and how much was dictated for him by Aptera's public relations and marketing team.
It is clear, though, that the present Aptera, with roll-down windows, reinforced body panels and improved aerodynamics, is a more finished vehicle that the pre-production prototypes we tested nine months ago.
McCammon would not say how much money Aptera hopes to raise in its ongoing funding effort (a previous funding round brought in $24 million from top-tier investors including Google and IdeaLab), but did say the company is seeking more in its federal loan application than the $75 million it initially had sought.
About a third of the $25 billion in the loan fund has been dispersed, with the first loans including $5.9 billion to Ford Motor Co. and $1.6 billion to Nissan North America. Entrepreneurial automakers got far less, with a $529 million loan going to Fisker Automotive for its "Project Nina" plug-in hybrid and $465 million to Tesla Motors for its "Model S" electric sedan.
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I'm saddened by this news, but glad I didn't wait around to buy one myself. It just goes to show how difficult it is to take a prototype and make it consumer-ready. As the saying goes, the devil is in the details. I think this is yet another vehicle that will start out as something truly different, but in order to satisfy the "masses" (really, the investors), will end up looking like a weird Prius, and not being half as useful.
These small companies simply cannot compete on most levels with the big boys like Toyota, so they shouldn't even try. They need to be different! Really different. They'll never be able to produce anything as well engineered or polished on a limited budget/timeline. They need to get the product out faster, and not polished. The polishing can come with later models, when they have revenue. The buzz is long gone now, and I'm not optimistic about their chances for success.
I guess it all comes down to value vs the competition. Will actual fuel economy of the production version be that much better than any EV from a major company? I really doubt it. Will it be cheaper? No. So why would I buy from Aptera when I can get a Toyota, Nissan, etc? Personally, I wouldn't.
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