CAUTION: “There’s been so many of these,” said Karl Brauer, executive publisher of Kelley Blue Book. “A lot of people want to solve the problem of clean, space-efficient, inexpensive personal transportation.”
Microcars have tended to sell in microscopic numbers in a new-car market with millions in annual sales. Fiat sold just 6,556 of its Fiat 500s in 2019, despite their seeming ubiquity. Mercedes pulled its Smart car from the U.S. market after selling just 680 units last year. Toyota yanked its Scion iQ after selling just 482 of them in 2015.
“It’s not to say a group of people won’t buy these,” Mr. Brauer said of the Solos, “but that group is in the hundreds, not the thousands, and something that sells in the hundreds is not saving anything: not the planet or our congestion problems.”
He added, “If you can’t get tens or hundreds of thousands of these to sell, it’s not having any sort of meaningful impact on any of these problems it’s supposed to be solving.”
“Conceptually, it makes sense,” said Juan Matute, deputy director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. “But what’s socially desirable and environmentally beneficial isn’t necessarily personally optimal.”
(the company for now has a lot riding on this imperfect product.)
AN AUTO-CYCLE
Despite the view out of your windshield that reads "car," it drives a lot like a neighborhood electric vehicle.
> It doesn't appear much thought went into the way the Solo turns or stops; it doesn't feel as engaging as it looks like it would be. There's little in the way of feedback or feel from the power steering system, . .
> Solo is a single-seat commuter "car" designed to thrive in congested urban markets. > ElectraMeccanica plans for the Solo to be built in China by motorcycle maker Zongshen Industrial Group (which also sells a low-cost electric motorcycle in the U.S. ), but the company is looking at building a factory of its own in either Phoenix or Nashville.
Is the 2020 ElectraMeccanica Solo Safe?
ElectraMeccanica says the Solo meets some NHTSA crash standards, but you'll have to take the company's word for it as it won't share its internal crash-testing data publicly. Since the Solo isn't a car (and thus not required to be crash tested), NTHSA won't independently vet the Solo's safety, either
2020 ElectraMeccanica Solo Quick Test Drive: The New Sub-$20,000 EV
It only has three wheels and one seat, but its manufacturer has a lot riding on this imperfect creation.
If the Wall Street GameStop drama taught us anything, it's that the Whose Line Is It Anyway? credo—"Everything is made up, and the points don't matter"—applies to far more than just a game show.
Ignoring GameStop, take a look at how Wall Street values electric car stocks: Tesla, Workhorse, and Nikola—the latter two of which have yet to sell a vehicle—are worth more per share than established automakers like Ford and Stellantis.
Another small, relatively unknown electric automaker trending up on the stock exchange is small Canadian upstart ElectraMeccanica, maker of the new ElectraMeccanica Solo EV.
What Is the 2020 ElectraMeccanica Solo?
The Solo is a sub-$20,000, one-passenger, three-wheeled EV designed for cheap, efficient city transportation. Indeed, the 2020 ElectraMeccanica Solo is one of the cheapest ways to buy a new electric vehicle in the U.S.
ElectraMeccanica announces plans to establish U.S. base of operations in Mesa
March 16, 2021 at 8:17 am
"ElectraMeccanica Vehicles Corp.(NASDAQ: SOLO)("ElectraMeccanica" or the "Company"), a designer and manufacturer of electric vehicles, today announced that it has selected Mesa, AZ, in the greater Phoenix area, for its U.S. based assembly facility and engineering technical center. Phoenix ranks as the fifth largest city in the U.S. according to 2020 census data, with nearly 1.8 million residents. Mesa, a suburb of Phoenix, ranks 35thnationally. The Company's selection marks the end of a comprehensive, year-long site search conducted by ElectraMeccanica and its partner, BDO USA's Site Selection & Incentives Practice("BDO"). . .
The proposed facility in Mesa will support ElectraMeccanica's strategic plan to meet anticipated demand for their flagshipSOLOEV. When fully operational, the facility is expected to create up to 500 new jobs and will be capable of producing up to 20,000SOLOsper year. . . "
Insert text > Forward-looking statements give the Company's expectations or predictions of future conditions, events or results. They are not guarantees of future performance.
There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements
These statements relate to analyses and other information that are based on forecasts of future results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management. Any other statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as “expects” or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “anticipates” or “does not anticipate”, “plans, “estimates” or “intends”, or stating that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and should be viewed as forward-looking statements
Matthew DeBord/BI
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