Here’s some good news to drive us through the weekend!
Canoo – the aspiring electric vehicle manufacturer that warned investors earlier this year that it had "substantial doubt" about its viability as a company – announced it has acquired a “Vehicle Manufacturing Facility” in Oklahoma City to build electric vehicles that it will probably never make.
According to The Oklahoman, the facility will be located in the old Terex plant near I-40 and Morgan Road, just blocks from the site of the historic I-40 sex toy spill.
When it’s up and running (wink wink), Canoo promises to create 500 jobs, most of which will probably come from the Epic Charter School ghost student career-tech program.
Here are the details via Canoo:
Canoo (NASDAQ: GOEV), a leading high-tech advanced mobility company has entered into an agreement to acquire a Vehicle Manufacturing Facility in Oklahoma City. Strategically located with easy access to road and rail, the facility will produce Canoo’s LDV and LV vehicles for delivery to customers in 2023. With a dedicated training center, Canoo’s Vehicle Manufacturing Facility will employ more than 500 people and be equipped to ramp to a 20,000 unit annual run rate by the end of 2023, with additional capacity to scale on the 120+ acre site.
I’m not trying to be Negative Nancy here, but I’ll believe Canoo is making vehicles in Oklahoma City when First Lady Sarah Stitt wrecks the first one off the assembly line.
Right now, Canoo is more well-known for its cash struggles than its cars, and with more fed interest rate hikes likely, a possible recession on the way, the tech bubble still blowing up, supply chain issues and materials shortages affecting global commerce, and stiff competition from every other automaker on the planet transitioning to the EV game, the odds seem to be stacked against Canoo ever becoming a viable company, which probably explains why Oklahoma was able to land them.
Well, that and some extra subsidies.
The company announced in its third quarter press release they’ve been “Offered Additional Incentives for the Oklahoma City Manufacturing Facility.” As The Oklahoman notes, it looks like the city may join the state in chasing jobs that will likely never come here:
“We are very excited about the potential of this announcement,” Mayor David Holt said in the statement. “We welcome this opportunity and look forward to building a partnership that brings electric vehicle manufacturing and jobs to OKC.”
When asked about possible incentives for the company from the city, Oklahoma City spokeswoman Kristy Yager said, “We're talking with (Canoo) about incentives, but anything would have to be approved by the city council.”
In all seriousness, I think it would be badass if Canoo makes it as a company, builds a solid product, and helps the Oklahoma economy before relocating out of state or out of the country, but the odds of that seem as high as the Burns Flat Space Port becoming a space tourism theme park.
You can read more about the Canoo deal at The Oklahoman.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We’ll keep you advised.
