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Last ring for the Sion?
Sono Motors co-founders
Jona Christians
(left) and
Laurin Hahn
are once again trying to collect money for their solar car
Photo: Sono Motors
The Munich start-up company Sono Motors has run out of money for its planned solar car Sion.
The two CEOs and co -founders
Jona Christians
(29)
and
Laurin Hahn
(28) said on Thursday: "We didn't manage to explain to investors why the Sion has the potential to become the world's first affordable solar electric car."
The last chance is now that 3500 customers pay a reduced purchase price of 27,000 euros for their car completely in advance - otherwise the project would have failed.
Collecting the money needed in other ways "takes much longer than expected," according to the founders.
The company has set a deadline of 50 days until the end of January for the rescue attempt.
Sono Motors made a loss of 104 million euros this year by the end of September and needs fresh money to be able to build the pre-series in 2023 and the first series car in early 2024.
The planned electric car has 456 solar cells on the body, which, according to Sono Motors, provide electricity for an average of 112 kilometers per week.
With a battery and electricity from the socket, the car should have a range of a good 300 kilometers.
Around 21,000 private customers have already made reservations and paid an average of 2,000 euros in advance, and there are pre-orders from fleet operators for a further 22,000 solar cars.
Heavy slump in the stock market
The Sion is not facing the end for the first time.
At the end of 2019, Sono was only able to stay afloat through a crowdfunding campaign.
At that time Hahn and Christians collected more than 50 million euros from their followers within 50 days.
The founders had to postpone the launch of their solar car several times, and they also increased the prices several times in the meantime.
In spring 2022, the start-up also announced that it would have to change the planned contract manufacturer for the car.
Instead of National Electric Vehicle Sweden (NEVS), Valmet Automotive from Finland is now to build the Sion.
If it ever comes to that.
In order to avoid insolvency again, the Munich company went public a year ago.
But even that did not mean the hoped-for liberation: Since then, Sono has been going downhill almost continuously on the Nasdaq tech exchange.
Since launch, the stock has lost almost 94 percent of its value.
The company is currently valued at over $100 million.
The main shareholders are the two founders and US investors.
"Many investors are advising us that we should focus on our less capital-intensive B2B solar business, which is already generating sales, and give up the Sion program," Hahn and Christians said.
Sono Motors now also builds solar solutions for buses and trucks.
If the Sion fans don't give Sono Motors a helping hand again, "we plan to concentrate on our attractive B2B solar business, which is significantly less capital-intensive," explained Laurin Hahn and Jona Christians.
As a supplier, Sono equips buses with solar cells, for example.
"But before we dare to stop Sion development, we want to give our community one last chance to keep the Sion program alive."
hr, sey/dpa-afx
