Aptera founder: I'm here to stay

Straight from the horse's mouth: Aptera Motors may have a new head honcho, but its no-longer-in-charge founder, Steve Fambro, isn't going anywhere.

Yesterday, we looked into the electric carmaker's hiring of a new man to take the CEO and president spot and the move by Fambro, an Aptera co-founder, to the chief technical officer spot. To our eyes, it bore a striking resemblance to personnel moves at Tesla Motors and Phoenix Motorcars as the companies grew in size and capital — moves that ultimately led to the ouster of their founders, Martin Eberhard and Daniel Riegert.

But today Fambro assured us that any similarities are purely coincidental. According to Fambro, the day-to-day running of a company that has about 50 employees and is growing fast was never in his plans. In March, he hired a headhunter, Heidrick & Struggles, to conduct the CEO search, during which time "I had top executives of top car companies in my office interviewing for the position." (Fambro won't name names.)

He assures us that he will remain on the board, and that if new CEO Paul Wilbur attempts to change the game plan too radically, "the board will fire him in a second." Fambro is not the chairman of the board and, though he owns a sizable share in the company, he said he is not the largest stakeholder.

Like Tesla and Phoenix before it, Aptera raised a significant amount of money before the leadership change — nearly $30 million — provoking speculation that outside financial interests might begin exercising a different vision for the company than perhaps was envisioned by Fambro when he and co-founder Chris Anthony started the business.

When Eberhard stepped aside at Tesla, the company sought to assure the public that all was well and even issued a press release to that effect. Nonetheless, four months later, Eberhard was no longer working for the company.

As for Aptera, Fambro assures us that this won't be the case. Only time will tell.

In the meantime, good news. Fambro says that delivery of the first production model of the Carlsbad company's under-$30,000, all-electric, 120-mile range, three-wheeled car, the Typ-1, will be before year's end. Who the lucky buyer is, however, remains a secret — except that he or she lives in California.

—Ken Bensinger

Photo of Aptera prototype by mrsmecomber, via Flickr

Comments

[Maggie Knowles]

Why are these cars so expensive? Can't you make a car that's fuel efficient and costs less than $10,000?

[Gary Godman]

Unfortunately the batteries and controller system for an all electric car are still too expensive to make anything inexpensive practical. What Aptera is doing already is so far ahead of what any other company has even proposed in the time line they are working in it is a miracle. Prices will come down in the next several years as production of many more electric and gas/electric hybrid vehicles come into existence and the volume drives down component parts.

[Aditya Sood]

This car kind of looks like the robots from Batteries Not Included. That's not a good thing. I bet they sell hardly any of these. Show me a car that has style, great fuel economy and costs under $15,000 and I'll show you my checkbook.

[Rich]

Aditya, did you miss the fact that this car is an EV..
There is no actual 'fuel'. Just KWH.. :)

It can go 120 miles on battery, for the cost of a charge.
Which is likely to be a few cents per mile. (or less).

"a car that has style, great fuel economy and costs under $15,000",
is going to go out of 'style' pretty quickly when
gasoline starts costing $10 or $15 a gallon..

There is no question about $15 gas, it's a matter of when..
In Amercia, it all depends on the weather in the gulf.

[MedEngineer]

I have one of these on order and I am really looking forward to getting it.

I made some calculations on what this will cost me to run.

My off peak electricity rates are $0.09 and this car uses
80wh/mile with my commute the daily cost will be $0.50
per day. Fifty cents per day!

If I had a car getting 20mpg my commute would cost me $15.00 per day or $5000 per year. In five years I would
spend as much on gas as the cost of the car.

The Aptera will cost me $150/year for energy vs
$5000/ year for a typical car.

[Scott]

Maggie Knowles,

Maybe the Aptera isn't so expensive. How many cars of any kind are offered for under $10,000 MSRP? Well according to Consumer Guide Automotive exactly one: the 2007 Chevrolet Aveo by $5, $9,995-13,510 MSRP. Run out and buy it quick because the 2008 version will probably break your bank.

[runcyclexcski]

Aditya,

The shape of the car is required for its high efficiency. You can not make a brick on wheels (you find bricks stylish?) and still get a high MPG, just like you can't make an airplane look like a brick with wings.

I would buy the Aptera, but I will wait a year or two.

[Chris Eberhard]

I like the style of this car, not enough to buy it if that were it's only selling point, but I don't think it looks out of style or like a brick. But 300mpg is an insane figure, I think it's incredible. In this day and age I think they're going to sell thousands of these, despite the cost.

[GB]

People who want a hybrid or all electric don't want a car that looks like everyone else's. And most of them are willing to pay a premium to avoid sending more of their hard earned cash to Exxon, et al. If you don't understand that they are making a statement, then you are missing the whole point. Even the car companies didn't get it at first. That's why the Prius and Insight did so well and the Camry and Civic didn't.