The German Sono Motors, like Lightyear, producer of an electric car with solar panels, is stopping the production of its solar car Sion. The company announced this in a press release. Instead of building its own car, Sono Motors will focus on selling sunroofs to other automakers.
The ‘Sion program’ will be stopped immediately, Sono Motors writes in it press release. With the production stop, 300 of the 400 jobs at Sono will disappear. The company speaks of a difficult decision. “Despite the more than 45,000 reservations and pre-orders, we are forced to respond to the ongoing financial problems.”
Also read | Electric car manufacturer Lightyear makes a restart, ‘but there is still some work to be done’
Sono Motors has been looking for investors for some time, but they could not be convinced to put more money into the company. At the end of last year it ran into financial problems, at about the same time as the Dutch Lightyear. To raise extra money, the company set up the #savesion campaign, but that was to no avail.
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Trucks
The company says it will now focus on the business market, such as Mitsubishi and truck manufacturers Scania and MAN. Cars, buses and trucks of these brands must be fitted with sunroofs
