Good idea. Think that the red tape involved is just too much for a small startup. I think they’ve been working on some folks in Arabia and elsewhere for larger investments. Also they have to look,America focused, if they want the government loan. If they get into production then overseas becomes viable to ship or produce the vehicles there.
Your video is the most important and truly substantive insight on Aptera in quite a while. You address the challenge with solution path that makes perfect tactical and strategic sense. The information circulating otherwise is good but often trivial and repetitive. I have a 1000 mi. version reservation for the same reason as your 600. I feel confident in Aptera's ultimate success but there is some thinking needed in other dimensions. Thank you.
The big thing you're not mentioning is that these launch editions will not be road legal in Europe. The wheelbase is too wide for EU/EEA standards. Headlight beam patters will be DOT spec and not EU spec. There is no rear fog light on the Gamma, and I haven't heard anything if it is even going to be on the Delta or launch edition. The rear indicators that I've seen on the gamma are red, not amber. USA/Canada allows both amber and red. But Aptera have chosen the more inconvenient option for the rest of the world. They'll need to be modified to amber to be road legal in Europe. Very few countries do exceptions for the red rear turn signals. Iceland is the only one in the whole European block that I know lets you register DOT spec lights and red indicators without modification. Go to Norway or any other country in Europe and at minimum you'll need to modify the headlights, modify the rear turn signals, add an axillary rear fog light (bad for aero if its slapped on by the user and not built in by Aptera) just for it to be registerable. This is assuming you can get it registered as a car and not a motorbike to avoid modifying the wide wheelbase. Otherwise you're limited to the 12 month window with American number plates, and then it needs to be shipped out of the block. If Aptera cared about getting more EU investment they'd try to get their launch editions to be more EU spec friendly at the minimum, amber rear indicators, a built in rear fog lamp, its not required in the US but it sure isn't illegal to have! It seems they've taken an approach exclusive to the North American market (red rear indicators being an aesthetic choice) ignoring the inconveniencies for global sale, they'll need completely different rear light assemblies for their EU version now, instead of making as many components as possible work everywhere.
All these are disheartening. Thanks, goodness! I did not invest in the Accelerator program. It is now becoming crystal clear that Aptera has built a purely American-only vehicle. I will wait until they build a European version, whenever that happens.
I am in California, so this doesn't affect me as a reservation holder. But as an Aptera investor, you have a good point. One trick is the width of the Aptera, which might not be in compliance with European vehicle regulations. With the single model Launch Edition Aptera is working to simplify their production startup, which makes sense as a priority. But since Asia and Europe are generally more committed to EVs than the U.S. creating a solid path for export makes sense to gain interest in investment. I get the feeling that there are many potential big-money investors, both in the U.S. and Europe/Asia that are already eager to invest $50M+, but I suspect that they want something significant in return, like a lower share price or most likely more control of the company. And this is all weighed against the prospect of getting the big federal loan approved, sooner rather than later. Some of this is a chicken and egg problem, because Europeans will be holding off on investment because of import problems, but if a European big investor put that import requirement out as a part of guaranteed big investment, Aptera would make it happen. One other point is that I wonder if Aptera could contact Sono Motors and Lightyear clubs and customers to see if they have any interest in the Aptera. I understand that they are vastly different EVs, but there might be some crossover in appeal for a unique solar assist EV with Aptera's features, capabilities, and price.
@@bobhellman8676 Again, the Aptera's width is not a problem for me. But it will be a show stopper on narrow European city roads, and will not be compliant for sales in many countries. It would be a smart move to do some open development for an Aptera model that fits Europe's needs (and narrow streets) better.
The majority of potential large investors are from outside the US! And usually foriegn investors are usually skeptic about investing in companies that are headquartered in the US. Steve and Chris mentioned in the last webinar that they have been working on shipping alternatives for foreign shipment of the Aptera for the accelerate fund raising program. If you are concerned, I suggest you contact Aptera and voice your concerns. I do wish you luck in solving your concern!
I am not sure what you are referring to. What I know is that Aptera has been looking at the possibilities of importing Aptera to Europe whenever production starts. I am not aware of any special arrangements for European Accelerator investors.
Accelerator fence-sitter in Canada here. You're spot on. Delivery plan seems to be "come get it". That's... a novel strategy for an automaker. Also see "regulations not a problem."
Thanks. I think if I lived in the US I would actually like the come and get it approach, it's a good excuse for a road trip. Outside the US, not so much.
Excellent points, and a worthy solution for consideration! I also suspect that the width of the Aptera is also an obstacle for some European customers as many of the urban roads are more narrow on average than in the US. Let’s also not forget the negative bias that three wheel vehicles have historically embedded in the mindset.
Plus a lot of those 3-wheel tip overs are documented in Europe and USSR/Russia (e.g. Mr. Bean). However, those typically were tricycle style (one wheel front, two in back). The Aptera uses the much more stable tadpole configuration: (2 front, 1 rear).
I'm happy someone's made a video about this. I couldn't agree more. The US-first approach makes sense in logistics (even though there's a good argument to be made that EU too would make sense given EVE + Elaphe + CDC as main suppliers). The % of people buying EVs in Europe is incredibly high (penetration of 2.5% vs 1.3%). Also, the main motivating factor behin the purchase is much more evironment-focused and less performance-driven, meaning the Aptera naturally has a much better fit with the European market, and hence investors. What's been holding me back from becoming an Accelerator is the delivery method. I'm not going to pay another 10K+ just to get the Aptera shipped to Europe, pay import taxes, etc. Lastly, what's been holding back investors (in general), is the overall valuation. I feel like their current valuation is very high. Most fans don't care. But institutional investors do. And while their claims re: margins and expected volumes are promising, they seem to be too good to be true. As Elon said: "It's easy to build prototypes, it's hard to scale". Aptera's leadership had experience in this phase. But not for the next phase. And I feel like we can kind of tell. Whereas the process up until now went smoothly, it's becoming new to them. And they can't seem to get over the hurdle. Really hope they do though. Can't wait to someday get mine.
Interesting points. I think the issue is actually bigger than people realise. In regards to the valuation, it's a tricky subject. Aptera is certainly very niche and undoubtedly high performance, but their original base model valuation was also one of the cheapest evs on the market back in 2019. I think, once launched, its market will expand quickly to a much wider audience. The question for large investors will be how big can it get long-term?
@@passivlife Yeah, exactly. Today's market is very niche. A wide, long vehicle that fits 2 people. Even if the range and efficiency are insance, I wonder what would've happened if their initial vehicle had been a 4-seater that had a higher drag coefficient (unavoidable), but still had the same design principles. The market would've been much bigger. And the willingness to pay too. So even if prices had been much more elevated, it would've addressed a bigger market. Alternatively, they could've gone the Tesla route: start with the highest margin market (low scale) and gradually work your way down to bigger volumes, lower margins to be more appealing to investors. IDK... I just feel like there's so much potential in Aptera, but they might have been a bit too stubborn in their go-to-market approach.
As an average U.S. citizen, little of these European laws/requirements are known to me, but they are important to Aptera, and from an investors point of view. Thank you for the excellent topic and overview education!
Planning on importing Aptera to Europe and having spoken to other investors, I can fully support that. I also filed questions regarding the EU situation for the webinar, but none of them got addressed! I can understand that they need to focus on one market, but not even addressing it or answering will build fear that there's something big missing to get Aptera road legal in the EU within in larger quantities. Curious to see if and when that changes...
I get the feeling a lot of people will be doing exactly that. If sonos is anything to go by, then the price might jump considerably after an ipo. Especially if they are already in production.
I can see where the lack of availability over the car in Europe can deter reservations. But, investment is based on ethics and profitability. Geography is of little concern unless the investor also wants a car.
One concern I would have is whether Aptera has the ability to produce RHD versions of the Launch Edition vehicle as part of this initial production run of 2000 units. After all, anyone in the UK or British Commonwealth countries, as well as Japan and other places, drive on the left. There is also the issue of whether the Aptera has been homologated for import into all of these different countries. It's not a matter of just loading an Aptera onto a ship and sending it to Australia for example, as the Australian government has regulations that imported vehicles have to comply with.
Yes and no. There are a lot of imported US cars in the EU that do not meet the standard regulations. There are loopholes and exceptions as Aptera have pointed out previously. But this also adds to eu uncertainty because normal people are not aware of the complex rules and regs. They already drove the Aptera Gamma through parts of Italy, but Switzerland didn't allow it to be driven, so it can be very country specific. Thanks for the comment.
One more blockade for outside US investment and interest: the 88" width of this first edition Aptera. (I live in Vancouver, BC Canada where parking spaces are very often only 87, and streets are quite narrow compared to Southern California.). Although I'm a reservation holder, I am aware that this width factor will be a challenge for me to degree. (In the even narrower streets of the UK, EU, or Asia, I imagine this is even more a factor.) (I hope the next model will be a 4 wheel, 4 seater with no more than 77" width/190" length, 2,500lbs. Add low rolling resistance tires, and free rolling drivetrain (unless on regen braking). If this model can achieve less than 0.20 drag co-ef, that would be "da bomb", In the meantime, I'm not bypassing this first 3 wheeled model for anything...
Even in the US, Aptera will initially focus on southern California. It will be years before they are in a position to need to ship anywhere, aside from the Launch Edition people, who should know what they are getting into. That's a long time to keep whoever shipped Gamma on the line. Also, Aptera wouldn't want to go the US government for a giant loan with concrete plans about setting up factories in other countries, so nobody could commit to anything about how a planned Euro-Aptera might be different parts, different supply chain, and built there. Remains to be seen, but they have mentioned local factories as something supported by their fancy software.
Thanks for the comment. To be clear, I'm not suggesting a production strategy change. Factories in other countries will come with time, but starting in the US is the right plan. I'm just suggesting a one-off shipment for accelerator investors from other countries to remove the barrier of uncertainty.
Its not that easy. The car need certified by each country for use on their public roads. Aptera is rightly targeting one geography where they are based out of. Other bit is support. Yes they could have easily announced all can get and taken money and then started shipments on their own sweet time. But that looks wrong and definitely team Aptera also feels the same.
I mean there isn’t even a legal number plate small enough in Europe and rulings against using those - burocracy is huge here. So yes, as an accelerator I am concerned about import, or bolster investment. I would be glad to see a path to my wingless plane but understand that full funding and US launch is top priority now. Until then not going for launch edition but stick with either a fancy Aptera or homogenisized Aptera or not-hitting-the curbs-all-the-time-Aptera.
In the UK it’s unknown if the Aptera will be compliant with the regs. It’s wide, the side lights are not white, so I don’t know if that will be legal. Thanks for posting.
Eventually, the Aptera will be 100% compliant in th uk. Until then, it should be possible to import and drive an aptera legally using loopholes like in the EU. There are all sorts of road legal vehicles that do not fit standard regs.
Considering how many parts are going to be made in Europe, I believe they will eventually also assemble them in the country that the body molds are made in. That should take care of import fees
I think your right to get Aptera thinking about helping the limited group to look at options for importation and looking at freight specialist companies. At some point it only makes sense to also have assembly facility in the EU. It is not all roses on this side of the pond. In my state I can only take delivery via a dealership. With the launch addition I would likely have to move to a neighbor state or Arizona to be licensed. There are many states with similar issues. Tesla got around it here by having 3 service centers. The one thing you might not get is external mirrors... the light color within the tail section is not defined by a lens from what I gather the area where you see the light is a clear lens. So light color, like the front, might be a minor change of LED color? The alphas design for headlights might remove 2 cells from the hood.
Another factor is the unproven reliability of a brand new model. I am an Accelerator living on the east coast of the US, and I am thinking of passing on my relatively early spot in the queue in favor of something further down the line. I am concerned that if I get one of the, say, first 200 Apterae off the line and a problem emerges that requires a factory fix...it could be difficult. This would only be worse for an overseas owner. Along with all the other problems you wait out by sticking with your 600-mile version, you avoid this one. Aptera's scheme still makes sense to me, but one has to keep one's eyes open and determine one's comfort level with several kinds of risk and expenses associated with early adaptation. P.S. Really like your thoughtful videos.
So maybe a Euro whale could help out here. How about an assembly plant in northern Italy? If a whale comes forth, Moderna, and CPC might make a great partner, building assembly plants. One in Australia, or South Korea? Frankly, I am sure this will happen, and it should be a world class advancement in the art of transportation. Buying stock is not very complicated, possible there are countries that are not open to an investment outside of their borders, but not many of those. Aptera does plan to have many assembly plants. So, investors from elsewhere, (outside the USA) should feel comfortable in spreading the money around. Aptera has picked suppliers from the EU and wants to get there, step by step they will.
Very difficult to tell. In the English speaking world the exposure is as good as can be expected, given their marketing strategy. But Switzerland has the second highest number of preorders apparently, hence them having homologation priority. I think the big indicator that there is a serious accelerator and preorder blocker is that there are so few from Australia. Despite it being an almost perfect fit for Aptera.
Aptera is deliberity blocking most large investers. They have been burned in the past by large investors that want controle of the company in return for their investment and they ruined the company. So now they are very carefull about limiting the controle investors can have.
Perhaps. But they will lose control after an IPO anyway. No way around it. Any investors prior to the ipo will, as you point out, probably be offered none voting shares that convert to common stock after going public.
But they wont go IPO until after they start production and the stock value will at least initaly at least double. The only major decisions after that will be to start working on a multi passenger, four wheel vehile.
You mean if they had compromised on the efficiency, they might have hit production already? I do wonder if it would have been quicker with the composite shell.
It wasnt wrong to start in the U.S. Its just the toughest time to push through with the downturn within the market conditions. Youre 100% off base and stop releasing doom porn. Its inappropriate.
My apologies. It wasn't intended to be any kind of dp. I'm eager to get my Aptera and I am trying to think up easy ways to boost investment. Taking care of shipping complications seems an easy way to get more investors. This a big issue for some of us outside of the US.
That is not at all what he did and he is correct. Aptera should not only assist but be the leader in how to export these vehicles. There was nothing doom about it!
The entire EU is a big problem. Unfortunately most people in Europe are for some reason positive to the EU despite it being a straight up authoritarian polyarchy now.
![DDG & G Herbo - Nosey [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/I9Ra0Zc2NlQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Good idea. Think that the red tape involved is just too much for a small startup. I think they’ve been working on some folks in Arabia and elsewhere for larger investments.
Also they have to look,America focused, if they want the government loan. If they get into production then overseas becomes viable to ship or produce the vehicles there.
Your video is the most important and truly substantive insight on Aptera in quite a while. You address the challenge with solution path that makes perfect tactical and strategic sense. The information circulating otherwise is good but often trivial and repetitive. I have a 1000 mi. version reservation for the same reason as your 600. I feel confident in Aptera's ultimate success but there is some thinking needed in other dimensions. Thank you.
The big thing you're not mentioning is that these launch editions will not be road legal in Europe. The wheelbase is too wide for EU/EEA standards. Headlight beam patters will be DOT spec and not EU spec. There is no rear fog light on the Gamma, and I haven't heard anything if it is even going to be on the Delta or launch edition. The rear indicators that I've seen on the gamma are red, not amber. USA/Canada allows both amber and red. But Aptera have chosen the more inconvenient option for the rest of the world. They'll need to be modified to amber to be road legal in Europe. Very few countries do exceptions for the red rear turn signals. Iceland is the only one in the whole European block that I know lets you register DOT spec lights and red indicators without modification. Go to Norway or any other country in Europe and at minimum you'll need to modify the headlights, modify the rear turn signals, add an axillary rear fog light (bad for aero if its slapped on by the user and not built in by Aptera) just for it to be registerable. This is assuming you can get it registered as a car and not a motorbike to avoid modifying the wide wheelbase. Otherwise you're limited to the 12 month window with American number plates, and then it needs to be shipped out of the block.
If Aptera cared about getting more EU investment they'd try to get their launch editions to be more EU spec friendly at the minimum, amber rear indicators, a built in rear fog lamp, its not required in the US but it sure isn't illegal to have! It seems they've taken an approach exclusive to the North American market (red rear indicators being an aesthetic choice) ignoring the inconveniencies for global sale, they'll need completely different rear light assemblies for their EU version now, instead of making as many components as possible work everywhere.
All these are disheartening. Thanks, goodness! I did not invest in the Accelerator program. It is now becoming crystal clear that Aptera has built a purely American-only vehicle. I will wait until they build a European version, whenever that happens.
I am in California, so this doesn't affect me as a reservation holder. But as an Aptera investor, you have a good point. One trick is the width of the Aptera, which might not be in compliance with European vehicle regulations. With the single model Launch Edition Aptera is working to simplify their production startup, which makes sense as a priority. But since Asia and Europe are generally more committed to EVs than the U.S. creating a solid path for export makes sense to gain interest in investment. I get the feeling that there are many potential big-money investors, both in the U.S. and Europe/Asia that are already eager to invest $50M+, but I suspect that they want something significant in return, like a lower share price or most likely more control of the company. And this is all weighed against the prospect of getting the big federal loan approved, sooner rather than later. Some of this is a chicken and egg problem, because Europeans will be holding off on investment because of import problems, but if a European big investor put that import requirement out as a part of guaranteed big investment, Aptera would make it happen. One other point is that I wonder if Aptera could contact Sono Motors and Lightyear clubs and customers to see if they have any interest in the Aptera. I understand that they are vastly different EVs, but there might be some crossover in appeal for a unique solar assist EV with Aptera's features, capabilities, and price.
@@bobhellman8676 Again, the Aptera's width is not a problem for me. But it will be a show stopper on narrow European city roads, and will not be compliant for sales in many countries. It would be a smart move to do some open development for an Aptera model that fits Europe's needs (and narrow streets) better.
The majority of potential large investors are from outside the US! And usually foriegn investors are usually skeptic about investing in companies that are headquartered in the US. Steve and Chris mentioned in the last webinar that they have been working on shipping alternatives for foreign shipment of the Aptera for the accelerate fund raising program. If you are concerned, I suggest you contact Aptera and voice your concerns. I do wish you luck in solving your concern!
I am not sure what you are referring to. What I know is that Aptera has been looking at the possibilities of importing Aptera to Europe whenever production starts. I am not aware of any special arrangements for European Accelerator investors.
Accelerator fence-sitter in Canada here. You're spot on. Delivery plan seems to be "come get it". That's... a novel strategy for an automaker. Also see "regulations not a problem."
Thanks. I think if I lived in the US I would actually like the come and get it approach, it's a good excuse for a road trip. Outside the US, not so much.
Go for it👍🌞
@@passivlife Exactly what I plan to do. Fly in, drive out. And take LOTS of pictures & video.
Excellent points, and a worthy solution for consideration! I also suspect that the width of the Aptera is also an obstacle for some European customers as many of the urban roads are more narrow on average than in the US. Let’s also not forget the negative bias that three wheel vehicles have historically embedded in the mindset.
Plus a lot of those 3-wheel tip overs are documented in Europe and USSR/Russia (e.g. Mr. Bean). However, those typically were tricycle style (one wheel front, two in back). The Aptera uses the much more stable tadpole configuration: (2 front, 1 rear).
I'm happy someone's made a video about this. I couldn't agree more. The US-first approach makes sense in logistics (even though there's a good argument to be made that EU too would make sense given EVE + Elaphe + CDC as main suppliers). The % of people buying EVs in Europe is incredibly high (penetration of 2.5% vs 1.3%). Also, the main motivating factor behin the purchase is much more evironment-focused and less performance-driven, meaning the Aptera naturally has a much better fit with the European market, and hence investors.
What's been holding me back from becoming an Accelerator is the delivery method. I'm not going to pay another 10K+ just to get the Aptera shipped to Europe, pay import taxes, etc.
Lastly, what's been holding back investors (in general), is the overall valuation. I feel like their current valuation is very high. Most fans don't care. But institutional investors do. And while their claims re: margins and expected volumes are promising, they seem to be too good to be true. As Elon said: "It's easy to build prototypes, it's hard to scale". Aptera's leadership had experience in this phase. But not for the next phase. And I feel like we can kind of tell. Whereas the process up until now went smoothly, it's becoming new to them. And they can't seem to get over the hurdle.
Really hope they do though. Can't wait to someday get mine.
Interesting points. I think the issue is actually bigger than people realise. In regards to the valuation, it's a tricky subject. Aptera is certainly very niche and undoubtedly high performance, but their original base model valuation was also one of the cheapest evs on the market back in 2019. I think, once launched, its market will expand quickly to a much wider audience. The question for large investors will be how big can it get long-term?
@@passivlife Yeah, exactly. Today's market is very niche. A wide, long vehicle that fits 2 people. Even if the range and efficiency are insance, I wonder what would've happened if their initial vehicle had been a 4-seater that had a higher drag coefficient (unavoidable), but still had the same design principles. The market would've been much bigger. And the willingness to pay too. So even if prices had been much more elevated, it would've addressed a bigger market.
Alternatively, they could've gone the Tesla route: start with the highest margin market (low scale) and gradually work your way down to bigger volumes, lower margins to be more appealing to investors.
IDK... I just feel like there's so much potential in Aptera, but they might have been a bit too stubborn in their go-to-market approach.
I think Aptera is going to make an assembly plant in Italy, making those units more accessible to European customers
You nailed it. I am European, and I agree 💯
As an average U.S. citizen, little of these European laws/requirements are known to me, but they are important to Aptera, and from an investors point of view. Thank you for the excellent topic and overview education!
Planning on importing Aptera to Europe and having spoken to other investors, I can fully support that.
I also filed questions regarding the EU situation for the webinar, but none of them got addressed!
I can understand that they need to focus on one market, but not even addressing it or answering will build fear that there's something big missing to get Aptera road legal in the EU within in larger quantities.
Curious to see if and when that changes...
Play it differently. Get a launch position. Take the profit on the IPO. Sell your position, for the launch.
I get the feeling a lot of people will be doing exactly that. If sonos is anything to go by, then the price might jump considerably after an ipo. Especially if they are already in production.
Many of us Europeans have already invested huge sums in Aptera (above 10K) and at much less price/share, so we don't care for further investments.
I can see where the lack of availability over the car in Europe can deter reservations. But, investment is based on ethics and profitability. Geography is of little concern unless the investor also wants a car.
Yes but this accelerator investment is directly linked to the launch vehicle. Most small aptera investors are also reservation holders.
@@passivlife OK, I must have missed the part where you were only referring to Accelerator investments.
Maybe I wasn't clear enough. 🤔 This video seems to have been much more controversial than I thought it was.
@@passivlife That's good! People need to see alternative views. It's the only way we learn.
One concern I would have is whether Aptera has the ability to produce RHD versions of the Launch Edition vehicle as part of this initial production run of 2000 units. After all, anyone in the UK or British Commonwealth countries, as well as Japan and other places, drive on the left. There is also the issue of whether the Aptera has been homologated for import into all of these different countries. It's not a matter of just loading an Aptera onto a ship and sending it to Australia for example, as the Australian government has regulations that imported vehicles have to comply with.
Yes and no. There are a lot of imported US cars in the EU that do not meet the standard regulations. There are loopholes and exceptions as Aptera have pointed out previously. But this also adds to eu uncertainty because normal people are not aware of the complex rules and regs. They already drove the Aptera Gamma through parts of Italy, but Switzerland didn't allow it to be driven, so it can be very country specific. Thanks for the comment.
One more blockade for outside US investment and interest: the 88" width of this first edition Aptera. (I live in Vancouver, BC Canada where parking spaces are very often only 87, and streets are quite narrow compared to Southern California.). Although I'm a reservation holder, I am aware that this width factor will be a challenge for me to degree. (In the even narrower streets of the UK, EU, or Asia, I imagine this is even more a factor.) (I hope the next model will be a 4 wheel, 4 seater with no more than 77" width/190" length, 2,500lbs. Add low rolling resistance tires, and free rolling drivetrain (unless on regen braking). If this model can achieve less than 0.20 drag co-ef, that would be "da bomb", In the meantime, I'm not bypassing this first 3 wheeled model for anything...
Even in the US, Aptera will initially focus on southern California. It will be years before they are in a position to need to ship anywhere, aside from the Launch Edition people, who should know what they are getting into. That's a long time to keep whoever shipped Gamma on the line.
Also, Aptera wouldn't want to go the US government for a giant loan with concrete plans about setting up factories in other countries, so nobody could commit to anything about how a planned Euro-Aptera might be different parts, different supply chain, and built there. Remains to be seen, but they have mentioned local factories as something supported by their fancy software.
Thanks for the comment. To be clear, I'm not suggesting a production strategy change. Factories in other countries will come with time, but starting in the US is the right plan. I'm just suggesting a one-off shipment for accelerator investors from other countries to remove the barrier of uncertainty.
Its not that easy. The car need certified by each country for use on their public roads. Aptera is rightly targeting one geography where they are based out of. Other bit is support. Yes they could have easily announced all can get and taken money and then started shipments on their own sweet time. But that looks wrong and definitely team Aptera also feels the same.
I mean there isn’t even a legal number plate small enough in Europe and rulings against using those - burocracy is huge here. So yes, as an accelerator I am concerned about import, or bolster investment. I would be glad to see a path to my wingless plane but understand that full funding and US launch is top priority now. Until then not going for launch edition but stick with either a fancy Aptera or homogenisized Aptera or not-hitting-the curbs-all-the-time-Aptera.
In the UK it’s unknown if the Aptera will be compliant with the regs. It’s wide, the side lights are not white, so I don’t know if that will be legal.
Thanks for posting.
Eventually, the Aptera will be 100% compliant in th uk. Until then, it should be possible to import and drive an aptera legally using loopholes like in the EU. There are all sorts of road legal vehicles that do not fit standard regs.
Considering how many parts are going to be made in Europe, I believe they will eventually also assemble them in the country that the body molds are made in. That should take care of import fees
Satellite build factories in other parts of the world may be the future.
I think your right to get Aptera thinking about helping the limited group to look at options for importation and looking at freight specialist companies. At some point it only makes sense to also have assembly facility in the EU. It is not all roses on this side of the pond. In my state I can only take delivery via a dealership. With the launch addition I would likely have to move to a neighbor state or Arizona to be licensed. There are many states with similar issues. Tesla got around it here by having 3 service centers. The one thing you might not get is external mirrors... the light color within the tail section is not defined by a lens from what I gather the area where you see the light is a clear lens. So light color, like the front, might be a minor change of LED color? The alphas design for headlights might remove 2 cells from the hood.
Another factor is the unproven reliability of a brand new model. I am an Accelerator living on the east coast of the US, and I am thinking of passing on my relatively early spot in the queue in favor of something further down the line. I am concerned that if I get one of the, say, first 200 Apterae off the line and a problem emerges that requires a factory fix...it could be difficult. This would only be worse for an overseas owner. Along with all the other problems you wait out by sticking with your 600-mile version, you avoid this one. Aptera's scheme still makes sense to me, but one has to keep one's eyes open and determine one's comfort level with several kinds of risk and expenses associated with early adaptation.
P.S. Really like your thoughtful videos.
Not using 401k is a big investor block,
So maybe a Euro whale could help out here. How about an assembly plant in northern Italy? If a whale comes forth, Moderna, and CPC might make a great partner, building assembly plants. One in Australia, or South Korea? Frankly, I am sure this will happen, and it should be a world class advancement in the art of transportation. Buying stock is not very complicated, possible there are countries that are not open to an investment outside of their borders, but not many of those. Aptera does plan to have many assembly plants. So, investors from elsewhere, (outside the USA) should feel comfortable in spreading the money around. Aptera has picked suppliers from the EU and wants to get there, step by step they will.
How much exposure is there worldwide? How many people are aware of Aptera so they may have the option to invest?
Very difficult to tell. In the English speaking world the exposure is as good as can be expected, given their marketing strategy. But Switzerland has the second highest number of preorders apparently, hence them having homologation priority. I think the big indicator that there is a serious accelerator and preorder blocker is that there are so few from Australia. Despite it being an almost perfect fit for Aptera.
Aptera is deliberity blocking most large investers. They have been burned in the past by large investors that want controle of the company in return for their investment and they ruined the company. So now they are very carefull about limiting the controle investors can have.
Perhaps. But they will lose control after an IPO anyway. No way around it. Any investors prior to the ipo will, as you point out, probably be offered none voting shares that convert to common stock after going public.
But they wont go IPO until after they start production and the stock value will at least initaly at least double.
The only major decisions after that will be to start working on a multi passenger, four wheel vehile.
Very true.
Aptera, where the perfect is the enemy of the good! Money/Investors is not whats holding it back.
You mean if they had compromised on the efficiency, they might have hit production already? I do wonder if it would have been quicker with the composite shell.
It wasnt wrong to start in the U.S. Its just the toughest time to push through with the downturn within the market conditions. Youre 100% off base and stop releasing doom porn. Its inappropriate.
My apologies. It wasn't intended to be any kind of dp. I'm eager to get my Aptera and I am trying to think up easy ways to boost investment. Taking care of shipping complications seems an easy way to get more investors. This a big issue for some of us outside of the US.
That is not at all what he did and he is correct. Aptera should not only assist but be the leader in how to export these vehicles. There was nothing doom about it!
Don't sweat it. Good citizen is just trying to stir the pot. That's what trolls do.
Wow, @Good Citizen!
@@jonj9149 You did a good job stirring with him
The entire EU is a big problem. Unfortunately most people in Europe are for some reason positive to the EU despite it being a straight up authoritarian polyarchy now.
Maybe we should revert back the authoritarian polyarchy to the well tried monarchy or even better still, to feudoarchy.
@@adimchionyenadum2962 Libertarianism is the only way forward. All the others are authoritarian and will be managed by corrupt control freaks.