Aptera new web site?

[eventhusiast]

I seriously doubt that they can get anymore funding without production starting. I read an article about the government loans and one sticky point was they were only funding companies who are in production. Whether it be gov or venture capital, I only see them getting more capital if they produce the car. They have a perfectly fine car to build, limited production run, get the ball rolling. I give them a 10% chance of surviving....depends upon how many they can produce with the funds they have on hand.

[Grendal]

Originally Posted by eventhusiast

I seriously doubt that they can get anymore funding without production starting. I read an article about the government loans and one sticky point was they were only funding companies who are in production. Whether it be gov or venture capital, I only see them getting more capital if they produce the car. They have a perfectly fine car to build, limited production run, get the ball rolling. I give them a 10% chance of surviving....depends upon how many they can produce with the funds they have on hand.

It's certainly what they should have done 3 years ago. I just don't expect PBW to start making smart decisions. It's not in his nature. Lets hope someone is smart enough to start making something. The concept is still a brilliant design.

[eventhusiast]

It's certainly what they should have done 3 years ago. I just don't expect PBW to start making smart decisions. It's not in his nature. Lets hope someone is smart enough to start making something. The concept is still a brilliant design.

Agreed, I think his back is against the wall now and the only soolution is to start a small production run and hope they pick up more capital funding to continue.

[JustWilliam]

I'm not expecting even a small production run, but I'd love to be wrong.

[Tkaypro]

Originally Posted by eventhusiast

Agreed, I think his back is against the wall now and the only soolution is to start a small production run and hope they pick up more capital funding to continue.

They should have done this in 2009. They might have had a flying chance at private funding or even the DOE. They instead decided to build ONE car and hope for hundreds of millions in handouts. How does that get sold as a sound business plan? It hasn't so far and doesn't still in the real world. Where would Paul be without the undying support of the BOD?

This new website isn't the renewed hope of Aptera. MM has wanted this since day one of his employment under Paul. His timing and execution rap precedes him though. I can hear his excuses now for this latest amateur move.

Oh well, carry on team B as you always have done. Good thing my expectations are rock bottom.

-Tricia

[Grendal]

I continue to hold the BOD as complicit in PBW's fiasco. At any point, even now, they could have realized their error and removed him. Instead they blindly allowed him to blow through enormous amounts of money and drive the Aptera into the ground. Shame on them.

[evmavin]

Clearly they are stupid or in on the PW incompetence scam. I have never seen more incompetence since the days of the .com and at least they had the startup sprit not the corporate disease. I actually think a few people believe they will produce a product. Can we just make this a general EV forum?

[jdbgn]

Hope springs eternal. Oh and by the way if you didn't see the incompetence coming when they brought in the people from detroit it is because you wanted the dream to come true and these people just ride the greed train and could care less about actually producing anything worth while.
I still have hope.

[randyd]

Originally Posted by Tkaypro

Good thing my expectations are rock bottom.

and

Originally Posted by Grendal

I continue to hold the BOD as complicit in PBW's fiasco.

The "buck" ultimately stops with the folks who wrote the big checks in the first place; who became the major shareholders, who elected/appointed the board, who hired the president. The moment they said, "Our goal is to sell 10,000 vehicles per month in 1 or 2 years." the dream was over. Period.

I don't know if killing the company was intentional or not (on the part of the board) but the effect was the same.

Originally Posted by jdbgn

I still have hope.

How about sharing that stuff you're smoking...

[Grendal]

Agreed, randyd. I think the forum had a reasonable handle on what was happening at Aptera. There were a few reservations when PBW came on board and delayed the initial launch in late 2008. I think at that point the forum was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt since he was only requesting 10 months. The board should have been watching his progress carefully. There should have been specific goals set and specific achievements finalized by certain dates. My impression is that the board gave PBW a free hand with the funds with no consequences for slacking or failure. Which, again, says they were complicit in allowing PBW to fail at achieving as little as he did. The only goal, it seems, that was placed on PBW was that Aptera was expected to be a participant in the X-prize. That's it. He's still around even after that fiasco so there were no consequences from that failure. The forum has been on to his BS since August/September 2009. Why hasn't the board?