Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Legislation and Policy, Th!nk (Think)
Breaking: Th!nk looking for helping hand, temporarily halts production
Click above for a gallery of the Th!nk City
It was virtually impossible for emerging automakers to forecast how difficult times would get just a few short months ago. Considering that even the best laid business plans must rely in some part on a series of educated guesses and assumptions, it's not surprising that Th!nk Global now finds itself in "urgent financial distress." So dire is Th!nk's future that Chief Executive Richard Canny has not ruled out bankruptcy, suggesting that the Norwegian automaker is in desperate need of help from the government.
The fledgling automaker is being hit hard by increasingly tight supplier demands and is finding working capital tough to come by at the moment, so daily production of the Th!nk City has been temporarily put on hold. Canny says, "The dialogue with the Norwegian government regarding urgent financial distress ... is well established and ongoing." A press conference has been scheduled for later today, so perhaps we'll hear more details in short order. Thanks for the tip, Erland!
UPDATE: looks like a bailout won't happen.
Gallery: Th!nk City
[Source: Reuters]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Throwback 2:58PM (12/15/2008)
Too bad. of all the EVs currently for sale Think seems to be the most promising.
Reply
gorr 3:17PM (12/15/2008)
So batteries cars are not the futur customers said. People want power, low cost, good handling and no fuel cost. That is easilly achievable with an ice power by 100% hho. This give 50% or more powed and better drivability because actual gasoline cars and too lean to offer good drivability, it's full of hiccups on acceleration, deceleration, constant speed, re-acceleration, etc. All that to save 5% - 10% fuel approx. I think that it's the end of the world in a few months if it continue like that. A crisis lead to another crisis and nobody decide anything and everybody is fed-up and useless. The perfect ingredient to go to a civilisation like the one in mad max II movies where everybody decided to make the sins that they want to do but refrained it, so they are looking for an excuse to kill, danse with drugs, quit their jobs and familly and rejects everything. They did that at the fall of the roman empire so why not do it now i think they feel that. Anyway if society collapse violently i will still try to build for myself if i can find a secure place with some remaining gas for my neon 2005. Till today i used internet to fing a hydrogen kit but maybe afterall i will need to build it myself, this is a difficult task. It need a water electrolyser, a tank presurised by hho, valves, engine monitoring computer, etc. This is the only car that can survive if their is a collapse because fossil fuel will be fight for, water is more abondant and you can find some at night when nobody see you in the gutter or in a lake or river. To find the rest you will need gas mask, tanks, machine guns, soldiers of fortune, rats underground to eat, so on.
Reply
rar 4:18PM (12/15/2008)
Are you for real?
BoneHeadOtto 6:24PM (12/15/2008)
LMAO!!!
Chris M 2:49AM (12/17/2008)
Gorr, if you want your Neon to run on "HHO" only, you're going to have to build it yourself. As I've explained before, the only ones selling "water cars" were scam artists that NEVER delivered.
As for me, I'm not going to waste my time trying to defy the basic laws of the universe and do the impossible
Blackheld 6:23AM (12/24/2008)
Dude, you got some serious issues.
I'm guessing you're an ESL user, who lives in Beiruit, and sneaks over to a burned out mosque to use the WiFi hotspot from the Myanmar Embassy next door.
Good luck. Given your post, you're gonna need it...and remember that Toshiba laptop batteries catch fires...don't type with it in your...err...lap.
noz 4:00PM (12/15/2008)
Perhaps it's time that people SCALE back on what they do and what they want. This is the biggest reason why things are so screwed up...people want too much all the time.
Time to walk a little more folks...take the bus, train, demand such services. If people here claim that THEY influenced the demand for SUVs, then go ahead and begin demanding alternative transport and better public services.
Oh hec...I forgot...that's a socialist/communist way of life that everyone here hates so much.
Reply
Torbjorn 2:20PM (12/16/2008)
Maybe humans should just die already, we are a disgrace...lets end our lives tonight...together...yay!!!
You think you are so smart and superior by riding the bus, walking and driving a battery only car...pathetic. No wonder you only "need" a battery only car...you don't have a life, don't have anywhere to go, no friends, no trips, nothing...and all humans are to blame. Typical wack job mentality.
We have proven already that we can do better than a battery only car or just riding the bus or walking (which I love by the way, and so do many other gas loving, hydrogen loving, CNG loving, Propane loving peeps...).
noz 2:25AM (12/17/2008)
Hmmm...Torbjorn....I think the only person here who needs to get a life is you.
Your insecurities are showing. No one said anything about superiority...but you speak volumes about your inferiority.
The only thing I claim is that people need to be responsible...need to limit their waste, their carelessness, their pollution.
Are you really that stupid to sh&t in your own living room? Cause this planet is all we have...where do you plan to go? If you don't care, how about your kids....if you have any?
God forbid you give up anything for the future....and by future I mean more than a month from now.
Time for a little less instant gratification.
Throwback 4:23PM (12/15/2008)
What does that have to do with Think? Perhaps most Americans like and want personal transportation. Not everyone lives in or near a city. When I was growing up in NYC I used public transportation. I live in a small rural town, it is unrealistic to expect the same kind of public transportation.
Reply
andrichrose 5:07PM (12/15/2008)
I cannot understand why Think threw away Fords
work on the chassis and changed it over to steel
from Aluminium , this created the problem that the
car weighs in at 1397 kg which is just too heavy for
a two seater . Consequently the has to use a 28KwH
battery to lug all that weight around !
Had they stuck with the lightweight design they could
chopped 8kwh off the battery pack and saved $5000
a car , which a huge chunk off the costs.
I think the problem with this car has always been the
price, $25000 without the battery is not going to
create serious volume which of course is where you
start to make a profit . Think always thought that
there would be enough people around who would
look towards buying one as an environmently
friendly purchase regardless of cost , but as we all
know this is not going to happen .
I hope Think sort it out , and dont vanish from the
scene , the Norwegian government could certainly
afford to bail them out , having that is the possibly
the largest sovereign wealth fund outside the gulf,
thanks in part to the recent high price of oil ,
Maybe its time to plough a little bit of this back into
something that may contribute to saving the planet !
Reply
stevefazek 10:15PM (12/15/2008)
Easy steel is dirt cheap at pennies per pound while the aluminum sheet they would use costs 3-4 bucks a pound processed into a sheet. For complicated parts they would need to use 0 temper and then heat treat the part
Most likely they would use 6061 or 2024 alloy in a t3-t4 tempering for most parts. a Bar non alclad sheet costs over 100 bucks right now
Michael 11:34AM (12/16/2008)
The aluminum chassis was developed by Think (then called Pivco) about 10 years before Ford came into the picture. Aluminum was actually used in the first 3 generations of the vehicle. They made the switch to steel for the fourth generation car (also before Ford) for various reasons - including cost and durability. Not as sexy... but much cheaper.
They still use a 3-d bent and welded aluminum extrusion for the upper frame, however.
Daniel Neumansky 5:37PM (12/15/2008)
I've seen this press release reposted all over the web but it doesnt appear to be on the Th!nk website? What about this press conference is there a link somewhere to that?
Reply
BoneHeadOtto 6:24PM (12/15/2008)
Is the Th!nk just trying to be "smart" and raise its "iQ"
Seriously WTH is up with these small car names.....Personally im waiting for the tiny car called teh "iBrain" that seems like the next logical name for these small cars.
Reply
scptt 5:40PM (12/16/2008)
test
Reply