Canoo, the electric carmaker that went public last year, is expanding its U.S. footprint by locating its headquarters and an advanced manufacturing industrialized facility in Bentonville, Arkansas, a city best known for being home to Walmart. On Monday, Canoo CEO and Chai Tony Aquila stated, “This is a sophisticated production facility that will allow us to create cars for specific use cases as well as speed our testing towards gamma.” “We’re looking at methods to streamline the typical go-to-market process, and this will result in automobiles that we can sell.”
Engineering, design, and material procurement for Aquila’s gamma platform are complete, and the business is in the final stages of manufacturing, according to the company. During the earnings call, Canoo aired a video displaying the development of its gamma build, implying that the business is building vehicles in the United States for a specific unidentified partner. Canoo plans to produce 120 to 150 of the cars, with “some of them going to possible partners,” according to Aquila.
During its third-quarter earnings call on Monday, Canoo also announced Panasonic as its battery supplier and other expansion plans, including the creation of technology hubs in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Fayetteville, Arkansas to support R&D in electronics, power trains, battery, vehicle engineering, and testing, as well as expanded operations at its first U.S. factory in Oklahoma, is currently under construction. Canoo also announced the opening of a software development facility in Tulsa and Oklahoma City customer assistance and finance center, as well as a commitment to engineering and vehicle design in California. On Monday, Canoo CEO and Chai Tony Aquila stated, “These facilities are projected to employ up to 1,200 people, offering higher education and jobs in the region.”
On top of the expanding news, Canoo said that the manufacturing of its lifestyle car would begin before the fourth quarter of 2022, rather than in early 2023. Canoo announced two production announcements earlier this year. VDL Nedcar, a Dutch business, has chosen as the startup’s contract manufacturing partner for its lifestyle vehicle. While Canoo constructs its giant micro factory in the United States, VDL Nedcar will produce the vehicle for the US and EU markets. Canoo earlier anticipated that the Nedcar factory will produce 1,000 units for the US and European markets in 2022, with a goal of 15,000 units in 2023. In August, Aquila increased that number to 25,000 units in 2023.
In June, the business revealed intentions to construct its first facility in Oklahoma. The state had pledged $300 million in non-dilutive financial incentives to assist the facility and Phase 2 manufacturing at the time. Aquila said on Monday that the state had provided an extra $100 million in non-dilutive financial incentives, bringing the total to $400 million. “Big News or No News continues to be our discipline. As a result, we will accelerate our advanced manufacturing production in the United States to begin before the fourth quarter of 2022,” Aquila said in a statement, adding that the company expects to receive about $100 million in vehicle orders from the states and universities where it will establish facilities.
According to the corporation, the Oklahoma plant will now contain R&D, software development, customer support, and finance departments. On the financial front, the firm posted a net loss of $80.9 million in the third quarter, nearly quadrupling its losses from the same period previous year of $23.4 million.
