Aptera Update: Backstory uglier than we knew?
by Sebastian Blanco on Nov 20th 2009 at 2:57PM 
Aptera 2e final design rendering - Click above to enlarge
Electric automaker Aptera has had a very tough week, starting with news of a boardroom showdown last weekend over money troubles – which were then walked back a bit. During the week, we've been hearing that the problems run deeper than we expected, and Karen Pease from Gas 2.0 believes she has put more pieces of the tale together.
First, it's important to know about Laura Marion, who is CFO at Aptera, but she also worked at Delphi, where she was cited by the SEC (PDF) for massive accounting fraud and ended up paying a $40,000 fine. Marion came to Aptera with Paul Wilbur, now Aptera's CEO, who had previously worked at ASC and Saleen (pretty much as those companies were going bankrupt). Wilbur was behind the firings last week, and the Gas 2.0 writeup (a must read) cites an anonymous employee who was liveblogging the recent firings saying that, "Paul Wilbur has just sacrificed the company to line his own pockets. Crap, I'm crying. [...] Seems to think suspending operations til govt$$ come in will make him a rich man. So sad for [Aptera founder] Steve Fambro, he's a great guy being ruined."
We asked Wilbur for a statement, and he sent AutoblogGreen a replying saying:
We have assembled a world-class team that has the full support of our board. We and our board are confident that we have the people and resources needed to bring the most innovative electric vehicle to market as soon as possible.
This story is not over, not by a long shot.
Gallery: Aptera 2e final design renderings
[Source: Gas 2.0]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
NeilBlanchard 3:10PM (11/20/2009)
This totally sux...
I am much more concerned with how and when the situation will be fixed -- I think that Mr. Wilbur has done a lousy job, so far, at guiding the Aptera 2e to production. And no matter what has happened up until this point -- how does this amazing vehicle come to fruition?
My take is that the biggest mistake that Mr. Wilbur and the others have made is to assume that they need to be like GM in order to succeed -- that they need to set up a production line before they build any vehicles.
I think the contrary is true: they should start from the place they are at: they should build the latest design with the resources they have right now: surely they have enough know how and passion to build it in a short time?
Start production by building one 2e -- and deliver it to Bill Gross. Build another and drive it to Washington, and then sell it to the #1 deposit holder. And so on -- they will learn as they go as to what are the actual issues they need to solve as they move to volume production.
Get this gorgeous vehicle into people's hands, and onto the roads! EVERY OTHER DRIVER on those roads will sit up and notice it! If Aptera can do this in the next say 6 weeks, then they will have met the spirit of their promise. And they will calm most if not all the angst that has come up recently. And they will start to make positive progress towards what we all want: the investors and the buyers and the company all want the Aptera 2e to be built, and owned, and driven, and to succeed.
Sincerely, Neil
BTW, the tags for this post say 'stebe' rather than 'steve'.
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Atlas 11:13PM (11/20/2009)
Neil, I couldn't agree more! I am a product manager, and I know for a fact that starting small is the best possible way, at the lowest risk.
Another fact, is that even with a high-tech, state of the art assembly line, they will run into technical issues. That's just the nature of taking something from concept to production...and that's why starting small is important, to iron out the issues before going big.
I really hope Aptera survives...on its own (this time not with a govt bail-out), but they need to get their act together and clean these incompetent ba$tards from management.
Alan 3:23PM (11/20/2009)
I read the article on Gas 2.0. It sounds terrible. Why did they employ that guy with such a bad track record. I'm not sure I would buy an Aptera but the point is they were making a vehicle for people who were already in the mind of efficiency and pushing boundaries. I'm sure these potential customers were not thinking about flip vs wind-down windows or cup holders, they just wanted a cutting edge super efficient, safe and reliable car. I'm not a business man and even I can see what they should have been doing. Get a vehicle on the road that meets the requirements of the early adopters, then work on the next version. To those that say brand is everything and the first version would have destroyed the brand, I say BS. Is a customer going to take delivery and then say.. "no way, I didn't realise the windows didn't wind down and it had no cup holders, I'll never buy another Aptera!"... the whole idea sounds totally ridiculous. So what's going to happen now is a small volume forward thinking company is going to go bankrupt because some idiot didn't allow the company to progress incrementally. A small but sad blow to EVs.
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jim 9:24AM (11/21/2009)
Possibly managers with the proper business experience and successful track records looked at Aptera and made the decision that it can't succeed.
Tim 3:29PM (11/20/2009)
Trying to game the system for taxpayer money? Really?
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years."
What's next? Fascist Corporatist Oligarchy? (oh... never mind...)
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WonderChoad 3:34PM (11/20/2009)
Wow I wonder how much Heidrick & Struggles was paid to research that guy and his "crew" upper mgt will always bring in a group to work with the lowers. The Laura Marion hire should be released NOW.
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Throwback 3:57PM (11/20/2009)
"Seems to think suspending operations til govt$$ come in will make him a rich man."
sigh, another CEO with his hands out for tax payer money. I hope the DOE realizes what a mess this company is and does not fork over any money. Why would you hire a guy with Wilbur's background? Bad management will kill any company, see GM and Chrysler as for recent examples.
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Tohe 3:58PM (11/20/2009)
Way too many red flags:
No e2 in sight (aside of cgi renders).
Lack of transparency
Lack of communication
Fraudulent leadership
Hijacked Board
Possible ATVM bailout
Whats next? millionaire corporate bonuses? and public outrage? I hope the DOE is listening.
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Snoopy 2:00PM (11/22/2009)
Couldn't agree more with that last bit. If the DOE even thinks about giving a loan of any kind, it should completely dismantle the entire managing board and bring it back from the brink.
Tony Belding 4:03PM (11/20/2009)
I don't know what's happening at Aptera, but executives pillaging a company to enrich themselves while destroying it is something I've seen happen before. The very sad case of Commodore-Amiga comes to mind.
What was particularly frustrating in the case of Commodore was that it seemed like everybody in the world knew what the execs were doing, except for those in a position to sack them or reign them in. What the board of directors or the major shareholders were thinking while they let it all happen, I still have no idea.
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paulwesterberg 4:41PM (11/20/2009)
Aptera may or may not succeed as a company, but they have made significant strides towards building a super efficient vehicle that will be produced someday. Maybe not in the next 2 years, but if they hit rock bottom and file for bankruptcy someone else will buy them out and make this car.
A super efficient vehicle with very low drag will be demanded by the market as energy prices rise. It is only a matter of time.
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meme 4:49PM (11/20/2009)
I think that's what we all hope.
Companies may die, but a good idea never will. A good idea can only be delayed.
Mark Kiernan 4:46PM (11/20/2009)
This is very sad. The Aptera is a fantastic car and deliveries. It is sad that they company did not run a background check on the people they pulled in to run it. I really hope that things change the the scammers are kicked out.
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Philmoney 1:09AM (11/21/2009)
wow, way to make this wilbur guy look like a massive douche. i love eeeeeeet.
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fixyourthinking 11:43AM (11/21/2009)
I don't know what it is ... but something ... something wreaks of a conspiracy here - not on Aptera's side but from Gas 2.0.
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My_SS_RX8 11:52AM (11/21/2009)
Aptera seems to be imploding. Money, people, egos? It's a shame, it looks to me that a once promising company will now end up in the courts as it disintegrates into a finger pointing mess. Too darn bad...I personally liked what I saw, I thought their concepts were imaginative and different.
Maybe it's too soon to write them off, but this looks like an irreversible slow motion train wreck to me.
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katchris1945 3:19AM (11/23/2009)
Jay Leno loved the car when he tried it out, perhaps he can buy the company and get it going the way it should be? Or at least he can influence the company "commanders" in some way?
Snoopy 1:57PM (11/22/2009)
Reading that Gas 2.0 article brought me close to tears. This is about more than just a car and the likelihood that it will not make it to production. It's about years people's lives being disregarded, their livelihoods put in jeopardy, and the possible expansion of an American manufacturer, including the creation of more jobs and economic growth, quashed.
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mark deadrick 2:42PM (11/22/2009)
Very interesting timeline of events. I actually went into Aptera a couple times last year for an interview for a director position. I actually showed up as Paul Wilbur was unloading his Chevy SSR a couple days before they announced his new position. I met with Neil Hannemann (he wisely left, I believe), Chris and Steve. I thought they were all very nice guys and we got along very well. I do remember thinking after hearing that Paul was taking over as CEO (I'd never heard of him, but knew of the other companies he killed), that Detroit has taken over the competition, and the chance of survival were nil. I turned down any further interviews after the second one. Not with a 20 foot pole. I have a feeling I'd have been asked to leave shortly after. My 7 years working in Detroit learned me how not to do lots of things, very few how to do things. I was asked to leave there too, just in time to miss the mass casualties. RIP Aptera, I hoped you could one day fly. I think as a novelty car, it would have done well, as a production car, NFW.
Mark in San Diego
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Ra Conteur 5:04PM (11/22/2009)
"Way too many red flags:
No e2 in sight (aside of cgi renders).
Lack of transparency
Lack of communication
Fraudulent leadership
Hijacked Board
Possible ATVM bailout..."
Sounds an awful lot like the world's biggest hoax - Climate Change. Check into the Hadley CRU Scandal now unfolding. There's so much corruption there it'll make a grown man weep.
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