Whatever happened to Arcimoto?!? 

Arcimoto was always an extremely risky bet. I always had two major issues. One is that they didn't have doors, even cloth ones, which meant they were not a practical all weather vehicle, and 2nd is that they are way too expensive to be a practical vehicle in the US market, and so they make perfect sense in india, or in southeast asia, and IMHO that is probably where the company should have been. If they had their current product with some kind of door, even if it was canvas and plastic on zippers and removeable for $12,000 in the US, I think it would have crushed it. The reality is though, manufacturing is easily the hardest part of any real world product.

Thanks Brian. Your analysis was spot on. I am an Arcimoto fan. I support their vision. I own an FUV and a fair amount of stock. I have had my FUV for over two years and I just love it. I have been invested in the company since early 2020. I sincerely hope they can pull a rabbit out their hat and somehow survive. The good news for me is I also invested in Tesla at the same time and that investment has been working out a bit better. Love your channel, your deep dives, and your appearances on other RU-vid channels.

I drive by Arcimoto’s HQ when I’m in Eugene to check for new developments. Will let you know when I see some.

Disclaimer: I just bought an Arcimoto FUV. I also bought 100 shares of stock @$1.57 a few weeks ago. Like the author said, it probably wasn't a wise financial decision, more like a leap of faith because I believe in the concept. (I just think it is ahead of its time; more on that) I have been intrigued with Arcimoto for quite a while. I generally agree with what this video points out, but I'm also happy to say the person who took a test drive right before I did also bought one. So Arcimoto had one good day. The vehicle practically sells itself. I have a Ford F-150 truck. Even though I am retired, I still need a truck often enough to justify keeping it. But most of my trips are single occupancy, less than 20 miles. I needed a "second car,' but didn't want to spend a lot of money, and didn't want car payments. I also didn't want a used car. I also had misgivings about electric cars because of battery life. The battery is 75% of the cost of an electric car, and has a life of 5-7 years. Basically forcing you to buy a new car every few years. After the test drive, I told the salesman I loved the vehicle, but he would have to sell me on the company. I'm not a stock market guru, but I can read a chart. I still have a few misgivings, but it comes with a 3-year warranty, which legally they have to set aside money for in case of bankruptcy, etc. So I took the chance. They also need to come up with full doors, fast. Most of the reviews I looked at said you actually got very little falling rain water inside the cockpit, but you did get quite a bit of splash from puddles and passing vehicles, and the half doors prevent that. But most people are going to want full doors. (There are a couple of aftermarket doors you can buy) I got the half doors on mine, and considering the short trip driving I will be doing I'm hoping they do the job in the Seattle winter. Here's my long term take: sooner or later there will be a market for Arcimoto type vehicles. One of the aspects about American society is we expect our cars to be Swiss army knives. We want a vehicle that is an efficient commuter that gets good milage, can carry enough cargo, and yet be comfortable enough to take cross country. Our present vehicles try to do that, but there are trade-offs. Anywhere else in the world you see a lot more specialized vehicles, everything from 3 wheeled Peugeot's to tuk-tuks. that do one thing well. This is Arcimoto's niche. It would be a decent commuter car, but they really need at least canvas doors. I also look at long term societal trends. When either California (followed by a few other states) outlaw internal combustion cars, or when gasoline gets prohibitively expensive, people will have to buy EV's, and not everyone can afford a Tesla. People will begin evaluating what they need a car for, and the FUV would be a great commuter car. There will be a market for a low initial cost EV. if Arcimoto can hang on long enough for that to happen. Another viable scenario would be a major auto or motorcycle manufacturer sees the same trends that I do and buys the company out. I'll post back in a year or so, after I see how the FUV makes it through the winter.... and we'll see where the stock is by then. It closed at $1.50 yesterday, so for the 100 shares I bought at $1.57..... well, I'm down $7.

Nothing wrong with buying a scratch ticket once in a while. I’m still crossing my fingers for Canoo! I’m not planning to retire on it, but hey sometimes a cool product can beat the odds. And no you’re not doomed😂

Thanks - I watched not from an investment standpoint, but as a long time motorcyclist, I'm enamored of the vehicle. As a Tesla owner, a small electric run-around makes sense. Why take a 2+ ton vehicle to the supermarket for a couple of bags of groceries. I normally do this on my motorcycle (top box is helpful), but I've got to gear up to do so. The Arcimoto would just be easier. However, today's price at $20k is pretty steep for an elementary vehicle. Nonetheless, almost no one buys vehicles as an investment...

I like the arcimoto product and i believe in it. Hopefully they'll survive. I am also waiting for the trike. Thanks for the update. I was wondering why the arcimoto stock keep on dropping. Right now, it seems like they're nearing bankruptcy. The FUV seem like a seasonal vehicle. Hopefully, the price go down to $10000 for the FUV. Then i believe it will sell.

Well done Brian! Hats off to you for standing up and saying like it is, and hope you don't get too much flack! regards

Thanks for the update. I also invested based on what others were saying (lesson learned), but in retrospect should have done more of my own research. I've worked in a couple startups in upper management. What I saw going wrong was them getting carried away with all the investment they got, spending a ton of resources on trying to invent something new (leaning machine) instead of focusing on sales of their current models and reducing manufacturing time and cost for their vehicles, which I think were (are?) overpriced. This is a discipline issue and like you I hope they come back as I never cashed out my investment and still have some stock in the firm.

@3:10 "If I claim to be a wise man, surely means that I don't know" Kansas - 1976 :) Though I have become deissapointed in what's transpired with Aricoto I hope they are able to move forward and become successful as I like the idea of small EV as transportation.

I bought, I sold, I learned. Enough said.

They RAN OUT of other peoples $$$. Pure and Simple. Even their Wiki is old news....

If FUV could have made these things in quantity at a very low cost, it would have been worthwhile. Unfortunately, their window is closing. It’s probably already too late. Tesla’s (and others) next generation platforms will be comparable in price and a lot more sensible for most buyers. FUV lacked urgency and missed their chance.

Thanks for covering this, you're the only one in a long time.

Doors, doors, doors. The lack of them effectively limits the FUV to a fair weather toy. They still don't have a full door due to the beautiful and ridiculously complicated geometry of the rolled steel pipe frame. Still waiting for version 2 where they fix that epic engineering fail if they last that long. Thanks for the video Brian.

Prototypes are easy, production is hard. They over expanded and under produced. The overhead plus R&D were way out of line with the revenue generated. Strip it down to the bare minimum and they might make it through production hell. Here are the headwinds they need to overcome: increase demand, reduce costs, expand states they can sell in. In addition, expand rental markets by selling to rental agencies (dont open rental centers), find a big corporate partner for the deliverator, and look for government uses.

What happened was that Arcimoto went schizophrenic. It produced 3-5 different models of the FUV, instead of just 1 or 2. It bought Tilting Motorworks. It created the Mean Lean Machine, the tri-cycle. And it bought this big production site. It got spread thin instead of focusing on getting vehicles to customers.

I got way too excited in this company early on and invested too much. I hope they can turn it around from where they are now. They definitely have a great vehicle. The manufacturing and sales have been executed horrendously. Factories like theirs should opperate 24 hrs a day and outsource non-technical components like the frame, suspension and body. I think they will succeed in the long run though.

Agreed, it was the execution that concerned me. I visited as well and drove it for half a day or more. But they did not have a a drive toward efficiency and scaling. It is a hard problem and covid did not help but this business is about overcoming, and that takes drive.

MY thoughts also, you provide a great service, thank you so much.🙂

I live in Eugene Oregon (yes home of the Arcimoto) i have rode in one twice and see them around town and get a Monthly Newsletter

Genuinely thanks for the sad update. Strange Munroe is so silent about this as they did mention it frequently they were assisting. Anyway in the end a motorcycle company will buy what's left or even Tesla (more synergy than Twitter)as the product is truly great.

Really looked like a good down to earth company with a decent product and working with Sandy. That reverse split did not help. As someone who hopes to relocate to the PNW this stings.

Please keep us up to date on Aptera - I barely ever see anybody talk about them.

ARCIMOTO LIVES. Eight thousand miles in eight months of SoCal commuting. The ride delivers as advertised. Some say it's too expensive, but at $24K without federal rebates it was still the best way to electrify my work commute. My first EV was not going to be an overpriced used Bolt or a Tesla that can fart and do tricks for $50K. The FUV has it's limitations, but actually is a viable EV. The company has proven to me on two occasions that they are dedicated to supporting my ride. I have no regrets taking a risk on a quirky trike built by tree huggers in Eugene. In fact I enjoy supporting people like that. But it is an entirely different story from the investors, they are a sour lot compared to all the fun the owners have driving the vehicle. Arvimoto is scrappy and still grinding. My hope is they join forces with Aptera and use CPC's IP to build a body with doors and widows and mate it to the next generation chassis 1.X. bring down cost and make a profit.

I had hoped to see a serious scale up and some east coast operations I would have invested in that then and set my build sheet for my own but I think the vision and the funding were oceans apart. 12 mil for a project of this magnitude is like changing one sock for the next days clean clothes. I’m not sure the people in charge envision this on such a grand scale it’s not going to work with stations instead of assembly line. That’s where I think they are out of their depth. Holding hope for the future I like the product.

I invested in Arcimoto a few years ago because I thought it could be effective as a niche, as a in-town (inter-town?) vehicle. As a city-dweller, I was interested in purchasing one myself. But I sold out a year ago for three reasons: 1: I saw no evidence of effective up scaling for mass production (larger factory notwithstanding) 2: Relates to 1-Because the FUV has limited range and could not be completely enclosed, it would always be a niche product. This is OK, but it had to be priced like that (10K range). I never saw the price drop. 3: Introduction of The Mighty Machine (e-trike). Neat concept but as Brian said, a distraction as Arcimoto had not executed on the FUV yet. I took a loss too and reinvested the recoup into Tesla. So far, that's worked out OK. 🙂 I've also invested in Boxabl but applied a lesson from my experience with Arcimoto: It's fine to invest in companies with innovative ideas, but only invest what you can afford to loose...

Glad you keep it honest. Abused? I hope no physical abuse. Idiots ranting? Don't let that stop you Brian. You rock!

Besides production, the product is in a small market segment. Occupants and seats being almost completely exposed to the weather is a deal breaker for most people. The steering was too strenuous for many as well. Let's see if Aptera's approach draws more interest

I bought in at $2. I always intended to let it ride until I saw that it was extremely overhyped at an unsustainable value. Sold most except 20 shares and bought my first Tesla shares. Then those 20 shares were reverse split, and I only have 2 shares. I'm still going to let it ride.

I keep hop[ing Arcimoto will make it and I really enjoyed renting one when I dropped by Oregon last summer. I simply said if they ramp and I think they will survive, I will be interested in buying a vehicle; if not, I won't. I did have some very early shares and enough that after the reverse split, I still have a few and will hold them until they are dead or moving up in the world.

They could still save the company by selling that tilt bike. It is cheeper, easier to make, can be shipped easier, can be driven by anyone without a license, has awesome ( claimed ) range, and if they could produce it at around $2500 or less? They would actually have something that could save them… but,

The bigger question is, how big is Aptera scam? At least Arcimoto delivered some vehicles. Sad part is Zak&Jessy are believing the Aptera scam too. They're just too idealistic.

The market is in Florida and California. Who is gonna fix or maintain it?

I had hopes for this company but their direction seemed all over the place with different projects. Plus I would have liked to have seen a version with fully removable doors so you could offer an enclosed vehicle to protect you from the elements.

They were offering 50 dollars a day rentals last year. I just got an email from them yesterday offering a “special” offer of 500 dollars a day, to rent…

Well done for making this video. A great shame they are struggling, it'll take something special to turn things around?

I agree with your assessment. In mid march purchaced several thousand shares for about $1.30 and sold 90% of the share less than a month later for about $1.75 sold the remaining 10% a couple weeks ago because it appears to me they wont make it. I may have been one out of a thousand investors that made at least a little on FUV... i doubt i will buy any more FUV l.

My story is almost the same. I think I sold out before it really crashed because I needed some cash. I really want them to succeed, and I'd even like to own one, but I'm not holding my breath. I guess if you're a gambling man now would be a good time to get discounted prices.

APTERA. Can you please give your thoughts on Aptera... how is their ramp going, how is the business doing, what path are they currently on and at what speed? I want Aptera to be GREAT, but they went bankrupt once before, and I have seen progress over the last year, but seems very little. (maybe I am wrong?) I believe people will buy the vehicle if mass produced, but can the company get there?

Sandy Munro is speaking on this and the Aptera. They have a great idea it’s to bad it didn’t catch on.

I bought low & made a little money. At the time, looking at their business model, I had to ask “Who’s going to want these?” I came up with a very limited market at the price.

I changed my mind. Arcimoto + Gogoro = Game changer for mobility.

Do I remember correctly that they spent a lot of capital buying that leaning bike company? I think they could not be convinced to keep the product line small and concentrate on making one great vehicle.

When they put Galie on the board, it was obvious they had no credibility. Putting an influencer on a board is purely a publicity stunt. They never seemed to have a sustainable marketing plan and their location was not a natural place for engineering talent. Sad they did not execute but production is hard

The company just received a notice from NASDAQ that they will be delisted in 180 days unless they can get the stock price above $1. This is the second time this has happened. Last time they did a stock split.

I bought in a few years ago and still hopeful for the company as their vehicles make total sense and should be everywhere like TukTuks are in India/Asia but as a major Tesla investor I feel Tesla should’ve bought them up years ago and brought them into the Tesla fold!

Archimoto allways looked like a niche product to me, fun but they needed to keep their ambitions in line with the limited market that they could expect to emerge and not overreach themselves with excessive plans for expansion and high tech manufacturing and research.

Love the red doo, you are always and spot on, I, so far, have not seen you do a super hot take for clicks, Bravo!

brian have you covered Aptera project/ still pre production growth plan ?

Arcimoto has promise, but at $20,000 no. It should not be the same price as a car. It is a summer cycle/car.if it was enclosed with a heater for winter driving then I would pay $12,000. It’s a stripped down Elio. Elio is a $7500 cycle/car. Good concept but that failed as well. If they did an assembly line configuration I think it would have a better chance of surviving.. There would be less employees less wages and benefits to pay out and so on. Ive been an assembly line for 20 years having stations does not work well in this application. They don’t have a distribution network set up.just like the mythical Elio. They lack capital and crashed and burned. Most people need a high quality as a daily commuter. And not just a fun vehicle. The concept is good but I would make a variant, a model for commenting with doors and side windows ,heater. It would be a 4 season cycle/car.

Basically riding an enclosed electric tricycle! I suspect it would not past the 250 foot cliff plunge test!

I never did see the appeal of this product. People got carried away because it's funky and fun, but when faced with the actual cost and what it's useful for, most will never part with their money. It's a shame, but it never had a chance, in my opinion, because the applications are so limited.

I bought a small amount of SUV at about $1 and got scared and sold all at $7. This was all before the splits/joins whatever. Hope they do well but can't see a massive market for the fuv.

Hey Brian, whatever happened to Aptera? They were the first to adopt NACS. Haven't heard anything.

I was chastised when I commented on the lack of profitability of the FUV stock. Apparently, if you are a "stakeholder" you are supposed to be happy to be losing money becuase you are "saving the planet". Sorry folks, I am a stockholder/investor.

My biggest problem with Arcimoto is that they refuse to sell me one. I have been on the wait list for years, but they will not sell a vehicle in my state. Why? Why? Why?

Brian, I love your channel. Glad I found you. On a personal note, I think it is time you gave up on that clump (island) of hair on top, and go full "crew cut" or shave. Currently it looks like Yondu's hair (from Guardians of the Galaxy). No offense intended. LOL :)

I like the new CEO Chris Dawson 🤔 we shall see

Have you revisited again? Do you think they will survive 18 mote months?

Thank you for explaining this issue.

Gosh... On the day I Twitter subscribe and get a shout out... I wonder if I was one of the folks who gave you a hard time about FUV? I really like the thing, saw one in my neighborhood like last year and thumbs upped the driver. Pretty sad to see it's fall from grace, still hoping it can survive...

We all want the best for the company but the truth is the truth.

Is Jesse Fittipaldi related to Emerson (race car driver)❓️

The Arcimoto vehicles, to me, have never been enough. Top speed and range aren't enough...should be 120 mph and 310 miles. There should be a fully enclosed version with accelerator and braking pedals, not hand operated controls.

All you have to do is go to their website and sign up for their updates on you know exactly what's going on. I get emails from them multiple times a week

It looks like they might have spent too much on Sandy Munro consulting at 2.5 mil. Maybe that set them back bringing it to market. They have doors in the works, so that's not the terrible drawback some say it is. It's supposed to be impossible to build anything in America. Tesla needed billions to make cars in America. Arcimoto and Aptera might not actually have any models available in quantity until they move production to Mexico because that's how the market works. It feel good to be patriotic and make your product in America. It's just economically impossible.

Certainly before investing in ARCIMOTO you did thorough research on three wheeled vehicles ? One in particular CORBIN MOTORS SPARROW CIRCA 1998 ? In the 80's I built a home (I actually built the home) with solar & wind generators & thermo panels. &. Energy storage 80' lap pool indoors. And batteries I was first net metering in VERMONT .. Along came Mike and Tom Corbin (father and Son) and built 267 Sparrow EVi was both investor and Dealer and public relations (Today Show) I bought in at $3. Sold at $1 At one time I had over 25 Sparrows !! I convinced Vermont DMV to create special class to allow legal registration. I have tattoos to prove it Tom Corbin ran a sloppy PONZI SCHEME HE SUCKED THE COMPANY DRYAND LOTS OF BELIEVERS /investors got burned Deja vu

Weren't they working with Munro on manufacturing?

I love the product and as an investor am down substantially. I wish them much success and hopefully maybe somehow they can rise up to overcome the challenges they are facing.

💪❤

Maybe the expanded to early plus 2020 happen. The stock became very shorted. Looks like got sideways after that

It could have been a great little niche fun mobiles for vacation spots. But never a real player.

Anyone who would invest in Zack & Jesse’s “investment club” should be prepared for material losses

They made intensely stupid decisions, they talked down to everyone who had legitimate criticisms of the FUV, at the end they were clearly just trying to take investors money knowing full well they were going to give up and walk away.

Three wheel vehicles don't make sense. A super-small, niche market.

They should have stayed with that AMAZING BIKE!!! I can’t even find a used one to buy; did they ever actually make them??? They were a head of a lot of the current e-bike companies so they would have had a massive share of what’s currently a major craze…idiots.

What about a video on the claims a train shortage is hampering car deliveries to the dealers?

If it goes back to IPO valuation, wouldn’t that be almost 100x?

Sandy Munro has loads to answer for.. He needs interviewing, he had shares, even a director... Had loads of opinions.. But who made the error!

Facing 70% loss I'm destroyed mentally... will it recover till 2$

When Munro pulled out, I should have pulled out.

Arcimoto, Aptera, the problem with both is that there is a huge difference between having a good product and a good business. Neither one has a path to introducing multiple models, both have low margin affordable products that people will buy once. The elevator pitch for both is "give us a large amount of money to burn for years and we may ramp production, if we survive, to the point where we make a modest profit before running out of buyers and dying." See why they struggle to find investors?

Agree with you on lack of execution, but more specifically they never built any demand for their product. Even with their little production numbers, their quarterlies were showing a lot of inventory on hand. I think Mark/FUV was trying to sell the stock more then selling the actual product.

1:55 there's one reason ,the rise and rise of the electric scooter

Didn’t they paid a bunch of youtubers to scam retailers investors?!

Mark is a strange dude. Tried to convince me that the world was literally burning. He watched too much CNN i suspect.

Acrimoto has a very nice-looking vehicle. I tried to contact them to see if they plan to sell in the middle of the USA. They never responded. Now I no longer care.

I'm with you on this Brian. I invested and believed in Arcimoto, (FUV) and was extremely interested in purchasing one of their trikes but their limited production, price, and distance (I'm in Toledo they for sale in Tampa/west coast) made that impossible for me. As I also discovered and you stated, the new factory has workstations not an assembly line. That is, too slow, too expensive, and not scalable, so basically a deal breaker. In order for Arcimoto to take off they will need a factory, with an assembly line, with enough volume to be a meaningful player. For that Arcimoto will need investment from someone/firm with enough capital, probably several hundred million $$$, to finance a factory and to procure commitments from suppliers. I also believe they would be wise to simplify and reduce all the variations down to 1 model, maybe with several color choices to bring unit cost down. Once they become profitable perhaps adding variations (distractions) might make sense.

China will have to come in.

Summary execution, Mark carried out when stock dropped 1000X in less than 3 years

Lost a couple of grand so learned my lesson.

Ok, it is over 5 minutes into the video, and all you have said is, "I know what I'm talking about, and I have concerns." How about some stats, facts, and, more importantly, address the video's title, which is why I clicked on it. This seems to be a growing trend on RU-vid, with content creators apparently enjoying hearing themselves talk while rambling about stuff other than what the title says. Please be clear and concise. Thank you

It was too good to be true. I saw a channel of a guy "testing" one every time in the rain. Other channel of a couple took it avobe the range of the battery. They had problem like they didn't know if it was two or one battery but then they discover that it had two but where not connetted with ache other. Manufacturing error.

Thanks for this update I have sub cheers

Oregon is nearly a communist country. I wouldn’t expect any real work to get done there.

Aptera & Arcimotto are clearly out of the government plans for clean energy (3 wheel vehicle exclussion) I could see contracts for national parks etc. Many behind the door decisions we are not privy to. I also wish something works out for them.

Other people have pointed out a number of flaws with the company and hey are almost all correct, but the biggest reason that Arcimoto failed is because the vehicle is UGLY. It's just not a well proportioned vehicle. The roofline is too high, there front end is a mess, the is no continuity to the design. It's horribly executed. Hideous. No one wants to be seen in this thing. Also, this hideous beast has attracted an owner's group that can best be described as geriatric and un-stylish. In an age where brands see the value in putting their products into the hands of cool, influential people. Arcimoto's cheerleaders are a bunch of aging boomers that are too frail to use a motor scooter for their around-town trips.

Too impractical in the body design. Outdoor exposure, poor storage, not very streamlined, I would never buy it.

Would of needed mass sales for a product not far removed from a motorcycle..Aptera has the Spector of inexpensive teslas and I doubt will make it even with munro’s backing..CyberlandR should be interesting..