Down, but not out....yet, V-Vehicle Company has fired its CEO, Frank Varasano, and canceled its lease on a proposed manufacturing site. The company was to build cars that ran on natural gas combustion engines, and create upwards of 1400 jobs for Louisiana. Richard Read wrote an article for The Car Connection detailing a string of recent setbacks for the fledgling auto maker.From the article:
A couple of weeks ago, we learned that the Department of Energy had declined V-Vehicle's $320 million application to the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program. That rejection had a domino effect, causing the State of Louisiana to withdraw its offer of $87 million in cash and other incentives. So, instead of ending the day with upwards of $450 million in the bank, V-Vehicle was left with only the $86.5 million it had raised from private investors like Mr. [T. Boone] Pickens.
The company plans to re-apply for the DOE loan, and began testing a prototype in February that claims to earn 40mpg and could launch with a sticker price of around $10,000.
"So, you're telling me there's a chance" (Dumb And Dumber).
Read the article here.
(Please re-post this as a community service)
ReplyDeleteLess than 20 car companies (The ATVM people say there were tons of applications but only a handful were car companies) applied for $25 BILLION DOLLARS in taxpayer money managed by a certain smug group of people at DOE in order to get loans to make green cars for Americans. This was not all of DOE that did bad things, just a private cadre of men led by Lachland Seward and Matt Rogers and his McKinsey “Partner” who flew back and forth to their homes in Silicon Valley every weekend on the taxpayer dime.
There was enough money to help every single one of the car companies that applied. The administrators applied their interpretations of the law in order to benefit the large lobby group-related firms and avoided every one of the “politically unconnected “independent American companies. The companies staff that felt that Matt Rogers, Lachland Seward and the ATVM people lied to them include: Aptera Motors, Bannon, BioTrike, Brammo, Bright Auto, VVC, Eco Motors, Electric Motors, ElectroRides, Electrovaya, ETS, EV Innovations, Futuris, Limnia, Magna, Pheonix, Revolution, Smart Earth, Vextrix, Wrightspeed, XP, Zap and a group of others currently seeking a class action law firm.
You raise a lot of interesting points. I know I was disappointed that XP Vehicles had their loan application denied. You obviously know a lot about this issue. Could you post how you know about this "private cadre" you mentioned? You can remain anonymous if you wish, but more facts backing up your accusations would be appreciated. Thanks for posting.
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