Lightyear halts production of its first solar car. The company confirmed this on Monday. Atlas Technologies, the subsidiary housing the Lightyear 0 production, filed for bankruptcy on Monday.
The decision to discontinue the Lightyear 0 solar car was taken as part of a ‘strategic restructuring’ , writes the company in a press release. Lightyear CEO Lex Hoefsloot says to the Financieele Dagblad that ‘In consultation with investors, it was decided to pull the plug on the Lightyear 0’. According to the CEO, it was ‘partly under pressure from investors’ that the decision was taken to restructure the company through the deferment of payment. It is unknown what this means for the company’s more than 600 employees, who were informed on Monday.
Lightyear filed for a postponement of payment with the court on Monday morning. The company does this for Atlas Technologies, its subsidiary responsible for the production of the Lightyear 0. Atlas Technologies Holding, which holds, among other things, the intellectual property rights, and Lightyear Layer B.V. are not covered by the application.
The company says that from now on it wants to fully focus on the development of its Lightyear 2 solar car, with which the company eventually wants to enter the mass market. Production of that solar car must start in 2025 and the car must cost less than 40,000 euros upon release. The company does need extra financing for the development of the Lightyear 2, the FD reports. Lightyear hopes to ‘complete some important investments’ in the coming weeks.
Lightyear started production in November of its Lightyear 0 solar car, which the company has been working on since 2016 under the name Lightyear One. The company produced the car at Finnish car manufacturer Valmet Automotive. Lightyear planned to produce a maximum of 946 units of the solar car. The vehicle initially cost 150,000 euros, although that was later increased to 250,000 euros. Last year,
