RUMORMILL: Aptera co-founders booted, staff slashed!
A website devoted to following the development of that futuristic vision of automotive efficiency known as the Aptera has spent much of the month of November in stomach-knotting suspense as rumors began flowing that CEO Paul Wilbur and company directors were planning significant staff cuts (thread here). According to multiple anonymous sources, the blood-letting began in earnest on Thursday when the top fabrication engineer and supervisor (and aluminum jewelery maker) Tim Dine was axed and continued when word trickled out that co-founders Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony had also been ousted, along with 30 percent of remaining employees.
We expect Aptera to release a statement soon addressing the situation. If true, the firings would seem to confirm recent speculation that the company was not going to hit its target of beginning production by the end of the year. An alleged final production version of the craft has only been seen in a computer rendering and communication from the firm has been, well, let's just say their Twitter feed has been tweetless for over a month. On the other hand, the company has recently re-applied for $75 million in DOE loans that, if successful, should lead to cars coming off the line. Eventually. Our fingers remain crossed.
[Source: ApteraForum]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
NeilBlanchard 12:39PM (11/15/2009)
Yes, our fingers are crossed, indeed! One would think that the incentive for all the VC money would be to move to production, but it would not be surprising to have this be some sort of suppression of a revolutionary efficient vehicle, either.
Here's hoping for the best.
Sincerely, Neil
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bardofoc 12:44PM (11/15/2009)
That sucks
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Nick From Montreal 12:52PM (11/15/2009)
A startup is a very hard thing to pull off. A startup building hardware is even harder.
As for VCs, at the end of every year, they have to axe the investments that did not pan out. The classic statistic is that only one of ten will succeed, so doing this allows them to concentrate on the clear winners and invest in new ones.
Now that Nissan, Tesla, Fisker and Coda are all set to compete for EV buyers, a three wheel vehicle doesn't look like it will be able to compete. So the backers are jumping ship, before they loose more. I'd like to be wrong, but we'll know soon.
Good luck to them and those who may have lost their jobs.
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Gary 3:21PM (11/16/2009)
I could have said that most people will not want to buy a three-wheeled car... even BEFORE any other company announced their 4-wheeled electric car program.
Yanquetino 12:57PM (11/15/2009)
What *is* it with mafioso CEOs, anyway? With all their business "smarts," can they not see that it only harms the company's image --and future sales-- to eject its original founders and visionaries? Surely it wouldn't hurt to allow the likes of Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony, or Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, to at least continue to fulfill the role of "evangelists" for the product.
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Throwback 1:00PM (11/15/2009)
"On the other hand, the company has recently re-applied for $75 million in DOE loans that, if successful, should lead to cars coming off the line."
If these rumors are true why would the DOE loan Aptera money? Clearly they have management issues which need to be addressed before being handed a check.
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Throwback 1:04PM (11/15/2009)
"On the other hand, the company has recently re-applied for $75 million in DOE loans that, if successful, should lead to cars coming off the line."
If these rumors are true why would the DOE loan Aptera money? Clearly they have management issues which need to be addressed before being handed a check.
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Tim 11:25AM (11/16/2009)
"...why would the DOE loan Aptera money."
Because it's NOT THEIR MONEY so they have nothing to lose if the loan is not repaid. It is VERY easy to squander the money of others when there is NO REAL consequence.
When you or I invest OUR money foolishly and it is lost, we personally suffer for it. When some Gov't "Progressive" (socialist) foolishly "invests" (redistributes) money from successful (productive) taxpayers and it is lost, they simply increase their budget and hire more staff, raise taxes to punish the productive and legislatively kill any competition for their favorite lobbiests pet projects.
wincros 1:05PM (11/15/2009)
When you see the trail of financial difficulties of even much larger companies like Think who have done the hard work of getting agreements to buy from cities prior to production and working out electric infra structure to support their cars, this is not surprising. The Aptera is fetchingly designed, but have they set up dealers like Tesla? I think it must be hard to start up an auto company and harder to sell an auto that appears to be an enclosed three wheeled motorcycle. That is a paradigm that disappeared just about completely 50 or 60 years ago.
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imwatchingyou 1:21PM (11/15/2009)
Paul Wilbur needs to be fired ASAP he ruined Steve Saleen and another Detroit company the same way, get rid of him before its to late.
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power2go 1:33PM (11/15/2009)
Not surprising really... look at the way business is done these days and the inherent conflicts.
The inventors want to build a business that lasts forever. The investors want to get rid of the business as fast as possible for a return. It's two groups that won't ever get along. Investors and banking types have a long history of only planning til the exit strategy. Look at the leadership of Coda, it's all bankers... you honestly think these guys are in it for the long haul? No way. The company will fold about a year after an IPO where all these guys get rich.
I wish all the best for Aptera. It's a great idea and finally something new in autos!
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monica 1:37PM (11/15/2009)
I am not surprised at all . . .
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Chris 2:06PM (11/15/2009)
Oh look, an electric car that won't come to the market after years of being played up. I'm so shocked and surprised!
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Rick 2:24PM (11/15/2009)
Aptera is a small car with an 80.5 inch width. - Whoever heard of that?
Corolla is 67.
F150 is 79.9
Aptera just won't sell in any numbers. Thats the core problem here. It's just too different.
And it's a trike.
I have a Corolla and an F150 and city parking and city driving is the Corolla's big advantage. It's because of the 67 inch width.
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Cwn Annwn 2:43PM (11/15/2009)
rick: your width numbers are way out of date. that's from before it was narrowed down.
anyway, to sum up this situation in two words:
LOYALTY PURGE
and also: who do you think it was who was making all of the decisions about delays if not for the ceo? had aptera had a single delay before the ceo came on board? who do you think it was who was running the crappy communication operation if not for the cmo?
ask yourself how you think this happened. there's only one answer, and it's not pretty. paul ruined this company like he ruined saleen.
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neptronix 3:15PM (11/15/2009)
I know two people who think this car is awesome, one which has put down a deposit. I just don't get the appeal, and the extruding wheels seem like a real safety issue.
It seems like vaporware at this point, like most of the electric cars that were all hot last year. Jay Leno having driven one is the only credible thing i can think of.
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Curt 5:08PM (11/15/2009)
Doesn't surprise me.
Probably the money guys flexing their muscles and placing their own men on board.
Similar to Elon Musk firing the founder of Tesla and clearing house.
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gorr 5:45PM (11/15/2009)
Maybe some technical problems haven't been solve. Maybe some business problems haven't been solve. For exemple the body of this car is like an helicopter, so maybe a patent somewhere is proposed by some lawyers as a potential supreme court trial.
Anyway battery cars are meant to not go on sale for real, just for the subsidies paid by workers ( tax ) then continue suffocating petrol for 100% of gm, ford, chrysler, freightliner, brigg and straton, hayley davidson, lawn boy, bic lighters, coleman camping equipments, imported cars, airplanes, ships, machineries..
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Rick 7:29PM (11/15/2009)
It's those fossil fueled bic lighters I'm worried about. Lets get some lithium ion lighters bic!
Matt234 9:54PM (11/15/2009)
Sometimes I wonder if "gorr" is a pen name for band of college students who have competitions in writing incomprehensible comments. If so, what are the rules? I wonder if this reply means someone just won a beer.