New Manufacturer Says Pre-Production Orders Rolling In for Think City EV
By John O'Dell November 25, 2009
It's not a tsunami of activity, but it's a good start for post-bankruptcy Think.
The Norwegian electric car company, whose Think City EV has had a rocky history, apparently is now getting orders for the plastic-bodied two-seaters even before they roll off the assembly line.
Valmet Automotive, the Finnish engineering and assembly firm that has the contract to build Thinks, says that it has a pile of 2,300 pre-production orders for the car.
Think shifted production from its own facility in Norway to Valmet's Finnish plant to save money (and, no doubt, because Valment helped bail it out of bankruptcy by becoming an investor). Valmet is slated to begin building Think City cars later this month.
Think also recently announced plans to establish a U.S. manufacturing plant in Indiana and to launch Think sales in North America if its application for a federal loan form the advanced technology vehicles fund is approved.
Valmet didn't say whether the pre-production orders were from private buyers or government and commercial fleets, but Think executives said earlier this year that most of the company's initial sales activity would be aimed at fleet business, especially for government-run demonstration EV fleets in various European cities.
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