Should we start an Aptera Death Watch, TTAC style?
Not yet, but maybe soon.
Aptera's difficulties in getting financing, which is very much like Tesla and Fisker's struggles to stay alive, underscores the point that making vehicles is a very tricky business. It is capital intensive, requires high efforts, and demands a very high quality product. The car buying public will not accept a vehicle that is not reliable, day in and day out, for over 100,000 miles. If you design and build something that is just a little off, you get hammered.
The venture capitalists of the world know this. They look at the financial history books and see numerous companies which tried to start up to build a better car, and then faded out. Tucker, Bricklin, DeLorean, and so on.
Building a car isn't like building an iPod (not to minimize the excellent engineering behind the iPod). You can't just jump in with fresh ideas and be successful.
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