Aptera in Trouble: Boardroom Showdown, Cash Running Low, Layoffs

In brief: In a boardroom showdown, two founders are ousted as Aptera faces financial crisis, layoffs underway.

Vehicle in the news

Make/Model: 2 / 2e
Manufacturer: Aptera Motors

The word

An insider report on Wired Magazine's DJ Siry's blog reports that Aptera founders Steve Fambro and Chris Anthony have been given the pink slip.

Rumors are flying as a late story Sunday afternoon on AutoBlogGreen "rumor milled" the pending layoffs amid the company's financial woes. Siry confirms those reports, which originated in an online Aptera Web forum.

So far, all that Aptera Motors has had to say is that they are slowing things down as they await approval on a Department of Energy loan application.

As AutoBlogGreen points out in a post today, what's happening at Aptera are the growing pains that mark the coming of age of a young startup. The same sort of thing happened in 2007 at Tesla Motors when founders butted heads with newly-arrived auto industry veterans at Tesla.

This will be Aptera's challenge. It's likely that most startups that have a chance of success in the new auto industry will have to face this challenge eventually.

And so ...

To bring the innovative 2e to market, Aptera has had to make some concessions to design in order to broaden their market. Obviously, not everyone likes those concessions.

Photo credits: Aptera