Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Phoenix
Phoenix Motorcars gets a refill for the petty cash box
There's some interesting financial activity going these days in the electric vehicle realm and it wouldn't be surprising to see some consolidation happen soon. In the past year Phoenix Motorcars and Zap have trailed only the Tesla Roadster and Chevy Volt in attention for battery-propelled vehicles. Unfortunately for both companies (and Tesla) revenues have not been in proportion to press coverage and as we all know building a complete vehicle is not a trivial challenge.
Phoenix has just topped up their bank account
Update: I misread the original source. The amount invested by Al Yousuf in Phoenix has not been disclosed yet. The investment is in the form of convertible debt .
[Source: Green Car Congress, thanks to Domenick for the tip]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Mort 5:32PM (12/06/2007)
Hopefully Dubai investor Al Yousuf will hang in there, because he is on the right track. Phoenix could be the next GM with the proper backing.
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Kardax 5:36PM (12/06/2007)
The $40 million to Phoenix is huge, and the $5 million to ZAP came with terms that basically give Al Yousuf control of the company.
Connecting the dots, I think Al Yousuf's plan is to sell and service Phoenix vehicles at ZAP dealerships, while the AltairNano investment is to keep the company around long enough to supply the batteries.
This could conceivably work. The three biggest challenges are getting the Phoenix vehicles NHSTA-approved, getting the AltairNano battery price under control, and getting the supply chain and manufacturing line running smoothly at all three companies. These are not small problems, and I'm not totally sure enough money was provided to solve them, but Al Yousuf is definitely pushing things along...
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john 6:01PM (12/06/2007)
Putting $40 million into Phoenix seems stupid. Putting $40 million into Altairnano seems foolhardy. Putting $40 million into both of them is insane.
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Domenick 7:38PM (12/06/2007)
I can't find any sources with the amount invested into Phoenix yet. It's not mentioned in the article at Green Car Congress or in the originating article.
http://www.omm.com/webcode/navigate.asp?nodeHandle=486&idContent=6894
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Dave 9:28PM (12/06/2007)
Odd that Zap's stock price didn't surge. That arab sure owns a lot of worthless paper.
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TX CHL Instructor 8:57AM (12/07/2007)
"Putting $40 million into Phoenix seems stupid. Putting $40 million into Altairnano seems foolhardy. Putting $40 million into both of them is insane."
Why do you think this?
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Tim 9:07AM (12/07/2007)
Most of these cars will be made in China and sold to the eastern rim.
Why? Like the former Soviet Union, the US Economy is collapsing of its own debt. The Fed is trying to prop up the market with even more debt so they keep lowering interest rates. Every time the Fed lowers interest rates, they have to create more fiat money to finance the dept. The more they create, the less the currency it’s worth. Look at the US $Dollar vs. the Euro.
Mr. Yousuf and others have to spend those fiat US oil $Dollars before the world looses confidence in them and while they are still worth something. US companies, financial institutions and infrastructure are selling to foreigners like hot cakes because they are really good buys for foreign investors with US $Dollars right now.
Goodbye US prosperity and world leadership. We don't yet realize just how much we'll miss you...
It will take 20-40 years for the uSa to rebuild our lost manufacturing capability. Before this is over, we’ll miss the “good old days” of the great depression when there were manufacturing jobs and food was at the end of the line.
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Domenick 11:15AM (12/07/2007)
Actually, Tim, the Phoenix Motorcar gliders are being supplied by SsangYong Motor Company of South Korea. And Al Yousuf isn't in the oil business. Actually, gold trading was one of his earlier commodities before he moved into boats and automobiles in the sixties. You can read more about him here.
http://www.futuretechnology-me.com/Al_Yousuf_LLC.aspx
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sonny 1:25PM (12/08/2007)
I hope Phoenix Motor Cars can stay in the game. Forty mil sounds like a lot of cash but I still think they are years away from a viable production model and yes I know that production for fleet vehicles is set for the coming year but it could be pushed back again. The cost of setting up production plus supply line logistics required will be incredible. Honda’s new U.S. plant in Greensburg Indiana is costing one half billion dollars to build. Yes it is massive and will have the capacity to build two hundred thousand cars a year.
The costs for a totally new production facility building a new technology item like PMC is doing will have to have to go through design revisions along its way which means added costs more delays. I believe now the expected $45,000 price tag is subsidized by the state of California to a tune of $30,000 for an actual selling cost of $75,000. That still could be considered cheap and quite a feat if PNC pulls it off and can make a profit doing it. I would say at best we will have to be patient five more years before we see anything viable for consumer use from Phoenix Motor Cars.
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