Aptera hires Paul Wilbur as new president and CEO, looking to build new plant
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Aptera has been making some key hires these last few months in an effort to bring together the best team possible, to make its three-wheeled electric vehicle as good as they can be and to bring them to market as quickly as is feasible. The latest hire from the California-based company is Paul Wilber, who will now serve as the expectant-automaker's new president and CEO. Wilbur had been serving as president and CEO of Detroit-based American Specialty Cars and Saleen.
Just a little while ago, Aptera brought on Neil Hannemann to serve as its VP of program management and manufacturing. Hannemann had previously been on both the Dodge Viper and Ford GT programs. Just a wee bit later, the eco-friendly company hired Tony Kirton to serve as its Chief Marketing Officer. Kirton had been working in similar roles for Audi of America and BMW's South African subsidiary.
In other interesting news, Aptera says in its latest press release, pasted after the break, that it is scouring the Southern U.S. for manufacturing plants. Nothing yet has been finalized, but we do know that California is keenly interested in keeping electric car companies in state, so this is a situation that bears watching.
Gallery: Aptera
[Source: Aptera]
PRESS RELEASE:
Aptera Hires Seasoned Auto Executive Paul Wilbur as Its New President and CEO
Automotive Expert to Lead Growth Strategy as Company Prepares for a 2009 Rollout
CARLSBAD, Calif., Sept. 3, 2008 - Aptera Motors announced today that, after a thorough search, the company has hired Paul Wilbur as its president and chief executive officer. Wilbur is an automotive industry veteran who brings 26 years of extensive automotive experience, ranging from product planning and finance to marketing and product development for leading car companies such as Ford and Chrysler. Most recently, Wilbur was the president and CEO of Detroit-based American Specialty Cars, a tier-1 supplier of open air and convertible roof systems and Saleen, a leading manufacturer of high performance specialty cars and trucks.
"We have searched long and hard for exactly the right leader to help us fulfill the promise of this vehicle," stated Steve Fambro, co-founder and chief technical officer of Aptera. "Paul Wilbur is that leader. His hands-on style and wide-ranging automotive experience will be invaluable as we move from design and development into the manufacturing and distribution phase. His reputation as a consummate car guy and a leading-edge automotive thinker are also qualities we wanted in our new CEO."
Wilbur joined Aptera effective August 25, 2008 at their technical center in Carlsbad, California. Near term production and distribution will be predominantly based in California, although long term plans for high volume assembly locations have not been finalized. Aptera is starting to work with a few southern U.S. states for a high volume assembly plant location.
"The chance to join the Aptera team at a time like this is a wonderful opportunity," stated Wilbur. "Aptera Motors is a company built on the belief that dramatically rising energy costs, combined with escalating global environmental concerns, will challenge the automotive industry and create an unprecedented opportunity for a revolutionary new kind of vehicle. I don't know of any vehicle currently in development, world-wide, that matches the game-changing possibilities of Aptera."
After closing its series C funding round, Aptera is now in the process of building a high powered, laser-focused product team to not only develop new products, but to also change the world's mindset towards automotive efficiency.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
meme 1:17PM (9/04/2008)
1) Their Vista plant that they're working on is designed to produce 10k vehicles a year (based on earlier statements). If they're looking for a southern (read: cheap) state for future work, they're probably planning on volumes much larger than that. Perhaps Aptera will be keeping up in numbers with GM and the others after all.
2) There's some interesting evidence that their plant in Vista is the just-sold warehouse/industrial center at 2443 Cades Way; see apteraforum.com for details.
3) One person who's talked with Steve related that Steve specifically hired Paul so he can spend more time working on concepts while Paul works on bringing the vehicles to production. So, don't expect this to be a rehash of the Tesla fiasco. Also see apteraforum.com for details.
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oobflyer 11:58PM (11/15/2009)
Prescient:
3) One person who's talked with Steve related that Steve specifically hired Paul so he can spend more time working on concepts while Paul works on bringing the vehicles to production. So, don't expect this to be a rehash of the Tesla fiasco. Also see apteraforum.com for details.
Mehul Kamdar 11:15AM (9/05/2008)
This can only be good news. Even with falling oil prices, someone who invests in one of these cars would be innoculating his bank balance against any sudden predation by the Saudis or by Chavez. Hopefully, with increased production, the cars would be sold in other states and not just in California. I can think of Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Georgia and Florida as fashionable, technology-aware markets that would be natural places for Aptera to market their cars in.
All the very best, guys! Break a leg!
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Lance 10:28AM (10/12/2008)
I for one would like to have seen Aptera NOT hire executives from Detroit; why reward people who have been entrenched in the losing ways of the big 3? Surely there are qualified business people outside that (mentally) festering area of the country?
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Oddbjorn Gebhardt 1:02PM (10/02/2008)
I see a promising future for all innovative companies who come up with new ideas on how to help save our planet, and Aptera has really come up with a special design. We in europe also need these kind of vehicles, and I truly hope that they will be big enough in the future to start exporting into europe too.
Keep up the good work!
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Bob Fox 11:23PM (10/04/2008)
This is what you call an organization that really has its act together. So many innovative and fresh ideas. So many of the so called green cars just focus on parts of the big picture.
Aptera had and has the gonads to do it all.
How exciting and emotional it must be to be in their employment. These people are all winners. The combined excitement, engineering, production and planning are far and away a guarantee of the future.
Build them Aptera and we will buy 'em !
PS Price 'em under 25K and you will not be able to keep up with production, I promise.
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al 3:51PM (10/05/2008)
you should take potential orders from rest of country and world just to show how huge this really is.once you decide to take actual orders, request our down payments. keep up the fabulous work!
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