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    California Green Car Company Aptera Motors Closes

    This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.
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    COMMENTARY | A leader of losers, California hosts the loss of another business gone bad. According to Green Car Reports, Aptera Motors, a start-up green car company located in Carlsbad, closed its doors on December 2, 2011, before much of a beginning.

    Aptera Motors made an electric car that was to be the future of gasoline-free vehicles in environmentally conscious California. The Aptera could seat two people in an aerodynamic design for tooting around town. Three wheels rather than four balance the car, like fixed landing gear on a Cessna 152. Perhaps owners were to think the car would take off. Well, it doesn't and it didn't, in any sense of the words.

    Aptera, however, had high hopes for its 2e (two-person electric) vehicle and a hybrid (fueled by that awful hydrocarbon, gasoline, when it wasn't regenerating energy from the brakes). The money for developing the product ran out and replacement funds were not forthcoming. Aptera applied for low-interest loans from the Department of Energy Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program, but that too never materialized. Reading the writing on the wall, Aptera returned customer deposits made on orders for both the 2e car and the hybrid.

    Aptera Motors went out of business for good on Friday last week. Sound familiar? So-called green companies in California make closings routine of late. But besides Californians putting their money on the pipe dreams of green technologies, overregulation and excessive restriction on business make leaving the state a common occurrence. Put those two together and you have a breeding ground for business failures of the most striking kinds.

    Now that Aptera is officially closed, no need exists for the futuristic 2e body parts in the factory. A demolition derby appears to be conducted on company premises. According to a Fox News video, employees are shown taking their wrath out on the cars. That or celebrating the end of a company that wouldn't make it anyway.

    Either way, Aptera is another green company dead on arrival in California.

     

    7 comments

    • Lori Gunn  •  Reno, Nevada  •  2 mths ago
      Excellent article
    • Sheri Fresonke Harper  •  Tampa, United States  •  5 mths ago
      Bad news:)
    • Blue Mountain  •  Santa Clara, United States  •  5 mths ago
      "A leader of losers, California hosts the loss of another business gone bad."

      Oh, I didn't realize I lived in a loser state.
      Well, in case she didn't even know, many startups do indeed fail.
      Out of the ones that fail, our state produces winners like Google, Cisco Systems, Facebook, Tesla Motors, etc.
      The whole point of a startup is taking business risks.
      I thought conservative types liked people taking risks to start a business.
      This lady is pathetic.
    • DEMOKKKRAPS SUK KOCH  •  5 mths ago
      wow another failure for the demokkkraps the failures are starting to snowball. solyndra,beacon,aptera plus a small $13 billion deficit.way to run the state into the ocean demokkkraps
    • David I  •  5 mths ago
      Remind me again why any business would start up in California? The 'Green' theme of the state would seem a plus for a company like Aptera but the taxes and regulations wipe that advantage out.
      • Blue Mountain 5 mths ago
        If taxes and regulations are such a problem, why aren't those conservative white people in Alabama starting startups and succeeding?
        Oh wait, they don't even try in the first place except a few non-conservative creative people in Huntsville, AL.
    • Mark of the Beach  •  Emeryville, United States  •  5 mths ago
      It would be impossible to build any car in California for a sale price less than $40k. Still, maybe if management never pinned hopes on a Solyndra-type loan coming their way, they would have instead engaged in proper means of attracting capital. And management should never have caved to conventional American auto marketing suits who have never understood what customers want. Late changes they wanted were roll-down door windows and front wheel drive, both of which increased energy consumption and aerodynamic drag. Idiots.
    • patriot1776  •  5 mths ago
      Where are all of the rich actors and entertainment execs and their money ? I thought they supported clean energy.
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