Aptera Needs A New Pr Director!

[Aptera#1416]

I was an Advertising Major at San Jose State. Aptera has a golden opportunity to promote its product and spread the word, yet for whatever reason, their PR department seems to be asleep at the wheels!

The best form of advertisement is word-of-mouth advertising because it is free and sincere. When I attended the Aptera show in Long Beach this year, my wife and kids couldn't shut me up!

Aptera should be showing off their new vehicles at all the county fairs in California, and even have a few people driving their vehicles around with an Aptera logo, their website address and the words "300 MPG!"

Maybe they are afraid that their website might crash with all these people seeking more info?

Listen up Aptera: Fire your PR director and get someone like me to handle your publicity program...or get a hungry Advertising major who is eager to prove himself. By playing coy and cool, you are really turning prospective buyers off. Give them what they want now!!! And that is information! Don't tease us. You want investors, and you want a horde of potential buyers beating a path to your door. You want to spread the word! You have a golden opportunity here and you are just sitting on your butts. What's wrong with you? Maybe you are in deep financial trouble? That's about the only explanation that makes any sense.

[KarenRei]

You want investors, and you want a horde of potential buyers beating a path to your door.

I'm sure they want the former, but are you so sure they want the latter right now? They don't exactly have a shortage of interest or preorders.

[Aptera#1416]

Hi Karen,

Aptera needs a huge infusion of money to get out of the "garage" facility and into a large scale auto production plant. The should locate their facility outside of California since the state is unfriendly towards businesses. The last California auto plant closed last month in Fremont. We actually used to make cars here!!!

Wouldn't it be nice if they partnered up with Toyota, Nissan, or some other well known foreign car maker, and then they would have a team of specailists, engineers, business and marketing experts, all working together to get the vehicle out?

Green is "in" and if I can get at least 200 mpg in a vehicle, I am interested! I've seen other 3-wheeled vehicles, but Aptera is the coolest!

I got interested in the Aptera after my son, who worked as an extra on the new Star Trek movie, told me about it! Forget about the 67 Mustang, the GTO, and 57 Chevy...at a car show, the Aptera will win the WOW contest.

Thanks Karen. Let's hope no news is good news!

[esmith]

I'm sure they want the former, but are you so sure they want the latter right now? They don't exactly have a shortage of interest or preorders.

You can never have too much interest or too many preorders ... they have 4000 reservations, which is nothing in the grand scale of things (that's how many newly-released Camaro's GM sells every two weeks), and the rate of new reservations is very low. A good PR director would get to work now rather than wait for things to pick up when they actually start delivering.

[rayfellow]

Aptera is growing at an approprate, smart rate. It's too early to be bought out. They are all having so much fun, making a good product at a reasonable price. I have this feeling they have all the cash they can handle for starting up.

Once the vehicle hits the street, it will sell itself... I remember how 'cool' it was to have a vw bug... twice the mileage of anything else, very different. If you were smart, you drove a vw. I see the same thing in Aptera. When they go public (to really crank up) it's going to be a hot stock.

[KarenRei]

they have 4000 reservations, which is nothing in the grand scale of things

It's a year's worth of production. If they can't successfully launch the car in a year, they're not going to.

[Stroke]

I havn't seen any updates on this figure, but it seems to me that the reservation number must be anywhere from 2 to 10 ( or more) times the number of 4000. $500 is a very small sum to reserve a revolutionary new product, especially when its protected in escrow. ( or is it? ) I'm puzzled by Apteras long quiet spells......?:confused:

[esmith]

It's a year's worth of production. If they can't successfully launch the car in a year, they're not going to.

If every deposit becomes a purchase, which is doubtful, especially in light of the fact that half of these deposits were made when oil was in triple digits.

In any case, having a year's worth of deposits is not an excuse for their PR team to sit on their hands or to take an extended vacation. We can only hope that they are busy preparing for the launch behind the scenes.

it seems to me that the reservation number must be anywhere from 2 to 10 ( or more) times the number of 4000

Last known reservation numbers are #2741 hybrid (early May) and #2095 electric (early June). By now they are probably around 5000 combined.

[palmer_md]

They are all having so much fun, making a good product at a reasonable price.

We dont know what the final product is nor do we know the price. This is precisely why they are not going full force with promotion. But I agree they could do a better job with just monthly messages of "were still here...here is what we are up to...thanks for your patients"

[scottsim]

...thanks for your patients"

Written like a doc....

[jstdadd]

I was an Advertising Major at San Jose State. Aptera has a golden opportunity to promote its product and spread the word, yet for whatever reason, their PR department seems to be asleep at the wheels!


So, put up your own website and promote the Aptera. Show 'em how it's done.

[popnfresh]

It's mind boggling how bad Aptera's PR is. I wonder how many forum participants are even aware that one of the Aptera prototypes made a cameo appearance in the new Star Trek movie. If I were Aptera's PR director I'd be all over that. My company's product featured in a huge hit movie? Hell yes! Look at us, aren't we great?! But Aptera does nothing and just lets it slide. Unbelievable.

[wolfdoggy]

It's mind boggling how bad Aptera's PR is. I wonder how many forum participants are even aware that one of the Aptera prototypes made a cameo appearance in the new Star Trek movie. If I were Aptera's PR director I'd be all over that. My company's product featured in a huge hit movie? Hell yes! Look at us, aren't we great?! But Aptera does nothing and just lets it slide. Unbelievable.

1. Most people on this forum are aware. It is OLD NEWS!
2. Aptera does not have any product to sell yet. Hence a lot of PR would be a bad idea and poor business practice.

[popnfresh]

1. Most people on this forum are aware. It is OLD NEWS!
2. Aptera does not have any product to sell yet. Hence a lot of PR would be a bad idea and poor business practice.
My point is still valid--where was Aptera's PR department??? And your statement about not having a product to sell is laughable! The Chevy Volt hasn't rolled off the factory floor yet and has been in development for at least as long as the Aptera, but you don't see GM's PR department slacking off. They've been loudly trumpeting about the Volt since it was nothing more than clay model! Give me a break. Aptera's PR dept has its head up its butt.

[evmavin]

1. Most people on this forum are aware. It is OLD NEWS!
2. Aptera does not have any product to sell yet. Hence a lot of PR would be a bad idea and poor business practice.


You have point two backwards, particularly for a start up company, this is the key way to build excitement and get more funding.

[scottsim]

Will repost here:

Hi,

WE will be sending new newsletter coming soon, so stay tuned…

Thank you for your interest in Aptera!

Best Regards,

ray segismar | aptera
carlsbad, ca 92010


www.aptera.com

[popnfresh]

This is great news! I can't wait to read it.

[jkyu99]

. . . your statement about not having a product to sell is laughable! The Chevy Volt hasn't rolled off the factory floor yet and has been in development for at least as long as the Aptera. . .That is okay, on a personal level, I would not want Aptera to emulate the Chevrolet Volt or their handling of the Saturn EV1. Nope.

VOLT: Its a $40,000+ hybrid with a 1.4 liter battery charger. (http://www.edmunds.com/chevrolet/volt/2011/review.html):rolleye0018:

While it is clear they say they have a 40 mile range battery without gasoline usage, it isn't clear on their website how much gasoline would be burned in a 1.4 liter engine used as a generator and not as a motor to complete 60 more miles. Their other 1.4 liter engines get 30mpg so that would be about 50mpg to finish 100 miles? I can buy a hybrid today for a little over $20,000 that already gets 50 mpg and has the same internal room as the Volt hybrid will get in 2010. That seems like an absurd business model, so I must be missing something from the Chevy PR director.

The PR must be trying to impress me that the hybrid available today cannot get 40 miles down the road on just electrics, but I am still not certain that is worth the extra $20,000 it costs to get that 40 miles in 2010