The Audacity Of Startups: 8-Person EV Firm Targets NUMMI

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

The former GM-Toyota joint-venture known as New United Motor Manufacturing Inc (NUMMI) in Fremont, CA is a big plant. Its nearly 5,000 employees can churn out over 400,000 compact cars and pickups in a year when operating at full capacity, which of course it hasn’t been for some time. With GM leaving the joint venture during bankruptcy, and Toyota currently winding down the remaining operations, those 4,700-ish employees and their 5.3m square foot plant need work. Local media call their outlook “gloomy,” noting that semiconducter workers will be first in line for the few new manufacturing jobs in the area, with a solar panel firm. But, in keeping with the green revival theme, an electric vehicle startup called Aurica says it’s in negotiations to take over NUMMI, where it says it will build unspecified EVs, in a venture that currently has an “undisclosed” finance plan. Are we buying this? Let’s look at some numbers.

Current Aurica employees: 8

Current NUMMI employees: 4,700

Current Aurica payroll: Unknown

Current NUMMI payroll: $580m/year

Approximate cost to switch NUMMI production to a new model: $500m

Estimated funding needed by Aurica: $1b

Approximate price of current NUMMI products: $15k+

Approximate price (estimated) of Aurica products: $40k+

Let’s put it this way: Barack Obama has pledged that there will be 1 million plug-in vehicles on the road by 2015, and has granted retooling loans and other federal support for projects like Nissan’s Leaf and Chevy’s Volt. The idea that NUMMI’s 500k unit capacity could be used to build EVs “within two years” as Aurica’s reps suggest, is laughable… especially considering that the $40k+ EV market already has a healthy number of contenders. The fact that Tesla was level-headed enough to recognize that NUMMI is way too big for even their outsized ambitions says everything you need to know about Aurica’s NUMMI plans. Or, to quote NUMMI spokesfolks:

While we appreciate their interest in NUMMI, there has not been an opportunity for productive discussions with Aurica. We are not sure whether their proposal is viable

Ya think?

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Scorched Earth Scorched Earth on Mar 12, 2010

    I bet they're just bluffing. This is MAJOR PR for a little firm in a crowded sea of startups.

  • Robert Schwartz Robert Schwartz on Mar 13, 2010

    "Barack Obama has pledged that there will be 1 million plug-in vehicles on the road by 2015" And he promised that the health care bill would be negotiated on C-SPAN.

  • ToolGuy "Honey, someone is trying to cross the moat again"
  • Rochester "better than Vinfast" is a pretty low bar.
  • TheMrFreeze That new Ferrari looks nice but other than that, nothing.And VW having to put an air-cooled Beetle in its display to try and make the ID.Buzz look cool makes this classic VW owner sad 😢
  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
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