Aptera's new VP?

[futura]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/blogs/automotive_news/4260376.html?nav=RSS20

[KarenRei]

Sounds like great news to me. He should bring a lot of cred and experience to their manufacturing plans. Hopefully they're not having to pay him *too* much to hop onboard. ;)

[Aptera #1159]

Cool, I hope the company can keep its "nose clean." I hope Steve does not get ousted for another person. That is what happened at Tesla.

[drivin98]

Great news, I think. I wonder how Popular Mechanics got of this story first though?

[Todd]

This little blurb is kind of interesting:
(The Typ-1 e is expected to cost around $30,000.).

I thought the cost was 26.9K for the e and 29.9K for the hybrid. It's kind of creeping up towards the "Meh, May as well wait for the Volt in 2011 @35K" range.

[gg222]

I'm starting to think the same thing.

[KarenRei]

I wouldn't get a Volt if it was cheaper than an Aptera and available today. 40 mile range? Ugly styling? Energy inefficient? I'll pass.

Anyways, this isn't the first time I've seen this mistake; Aptera itself seems to have more fondness for the Typ-1h and often gives its stats when talking about "the Aptera" in general. But the Aptera website still says $26,900 on the FAQ, so I'll trust that until either they consistently report $30k in the news or Aptera updates their website.

Anyways... I've already been able to take advantage of this news in another forum. There are Aptera doubters out there, and something like this is a great thing to point out to them. They've raised their production funding and they have a guy with a solid track record of producing some high profile cars leading it. What more could they ask for?

[Todd]

I wouldn't get a Volt if it was cheaper than an Aptera and available today. 40 mile range? Ugly styling? Energy inefficient? I'll pass.

I'm inclined to agree up to a point but it does start to shift the balance a bit.

The 40 mile range pretty much matches the typ-h all electric range. And my commute is 38 miles. So with either one I'd be all electric for about 80% of my miles.

That said if this pans out I might get a hummer and brew gas with my lawn clippings. :D

http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/research/4260296.html?series=19

[Chupacabra]

This little blurb is kind of interesting:
(The Typ-1 e is expected to cost around $30,000.).

I thought the cost was 26.9K for the e and 29.9K for the hybrid. It's kind of creeping up towards the "Meh, May as well wait for the Volt in 2011 @35K" range.

This is not an aptera quote, I don't know why you would give any stock to it. They probably just rounded the # up, or thought to include taxes in their figure. 26.9k is "around 30k", which is what the quote says...

I would never buy a Volt. I like its aggressive retro styling (read: poor CD), but 40 miles is INCREDIBLY LIMITED. You gotta be kidding me... who would pay for that? Buy one of those city cars for a 3rd of the price. The Volt will be a flop when it comes to the general public. It will generate interest with (uninformed and crazy) enthusiasts only. Are they TRYING to kill their 2nd EV? GM should scrap this idea completely and restart from the ground up with loftier goals of improved range.

Right now pure EV seems too limited to appeal to the mass. The technology is definitely improving... as it does, the eyes of more people will be opened. Until then, I think cars like the Typ-1h will be more popular. The final thing that will really open up these alternative vehicles is coming up with 4 seaters. A 2-seater is really for a single person, or someone with the luxury of affording a $30k commuter only car (read: targeting much richer people, the avg person does not have 30k to blow on a commuting car).

[SpyderMike]

so how much capital is Aptera sitting on now?

[KarenRei]

I don't know the dollar amount. There was a release a month or so ago about them raising the full amount of money they were seeking for production, but I don't remember seeing a dollar figure. Their previous round of funding in 2007 was $20m.

[SpyderMike]

thank you...