Aptera has found someone to build its solar car, and it is in Shanghai

Aptera has partnered with Shanghai’s Launch Design on a manufacturing programme worth up to $44mn, covering tooling, testing and pilot production. Aptera pays two-thirds of the costs, while its latest filing reports $10.1mn in cash and substantial doubt about continuing as a going concern.

Aptera has finally found someone to build its solar car. The California company has signed a manufacturing programme with Shanghai Launch Automotive Technology, a design-for-manufacturing firm with more than 3,000 staff that has worked on over 400 vehicle models, in a deal worth up to $44mn.

The headline number is not money arriving. Aptera pays two-thirds of approved programme costs itself, and Launch’s share, up to about $15mn, comes as warrants to buy Aptera stock rather than cash.

That matters because of what Aptera’s own filings say. At the end of June it held $10.1mn in cash, was burning $2.0mn to $2.2mn a month, and...

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