Questions From Aptera
Seems that Aptera, purveyors of Mr. Spock’s next vehicle (possible) have some questions for you.
The general tenor of their questions seem to slant towards the “why aren’t people lining up to buy our wonderful car, and how can we make them do that?” end of things.
This one question, however, really jumped out at me:
“What’s holding you back from putting a deposit down?”
Aptera, I have a two word answer for you:
Preston Tucker
You know who Preston Tucker is, don’t you? If you don’t, you should really check out Francis Ford Copolla’s very well done bio-pick, simply titled “Tucker”. If you don’t, and you’re serious about not just building, but selling your three-wheeled cars to the public, in quantity, then you’ve got a lot of catching up to do.
Look, even if you were selling a brand new, conventional car, making a go of it in the real world against the likes of Chevy and Toyota and Ferrari, it’ll be plenty tough. But selling a car that looks like a movie prop is like starting the Indy 500 2 laps late; it’s an uphill battle for Aptera.
So, if I look at the new Aptera, and they ask me a question like, “What’s holding you back from putting a deposit down?”
My answer will be some variation of, “You’ve got to be kidding? You want my money NOW? You haven’t produced anything by a handful of working prototypes. I don’t know whether this thing will work at all, let alone an even more important question you have to answer: Will the company be here in 5 years? In 10?”
You want my money now and a commitment to tens of thousands of dollars later?
Convince me that what you’re selling is, and will be a real car for as long as I choose to own it (conceivably forever) and THEN you can start asking about having some of my money.
Source: AutoBlogGreen
Filed Under: Car News
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I took that survey today and plopped down a $500. deposit after. I have every news article on Aptera sent to me daily by GOOGLE news and you are right, I want to buy one now! In the mean time I am rehabbing a Geo Metro with a 3 cyclinder in it. I will have $6,000. in it before I get a new engine and trans in it. It cost money to make dreams and you can do it or talk about doing it. It cost big bucks for highway safety tests and the $500. is afterall refundable. Have you gambled in “vegas”, this is better odds.
I took the same survey, but in my case almost a year after I put my $500 deposit down. I am #333 in line for the hybrid version. I expect driving an Aptera will be a blast. My current car, a 2002 Prius was the only car I had people stopping me and asking about for over 2 YEARS, on average about once a week. Even 6 years later I still get questions. It’s kind of fun. I expect my Aptera will generate an order of magnitude (engineer speak for LOTS!!!) more interest.
I am 2505 which told me something! Until the Aptera comes around I have the Geo and expect to break 60 mpg in it. I think Aptera missed an opportunity in not attending the APTA EXPO in San Diego last week! It would of been a half hour drive and an exhibit at the once every 3 years Transportation show would have drawn International exposure. I am a consultant and had a client at the show. Zero Emission busses, Hydrogen and Hybrids in bus and rail had buyers from countries around the globe. They were even displaying street sweepers and other hybrid vehicles for city uses.
An Aptera as a Fleet vehicle for city employees maybe? The show had 30 or so full size busses on the floor, flex busses 80 feet long, even a helicopter was on display.
Aptera needs visibility. I covered the Warren Jeffs trial in Sept. of 2007 in St. George Utah as the polygamist prophet went on trial. With 25 News crews covering the event, it was an example of where this ghost car should be showing up. Any where the press or media is gathered, is a good place to be seen. Thats my opinion, but you will be driving one before me!
Jay
>You want my money now and a commitment to tens of thousands of dollars later?
No, where’d you get that idea? They want you to put $500 in an escrow account for the *option* to pay tens of thousands of dollars later. You can cancel your pre-order at any time and get your money back.
The $500 is to weed out people who aren’t serious. It makes their 4000 pre-orders that much more compelling to potential investors.
>Convince me that what you’re selling is, and will be a real car for as long as I choose to own it (conceivably forever)…
So, you want assurances that the company will exist… forever? I guess I’m confused here.
I was convinced enough to put my $500. in escrow I guess. Its no more than any other hybrid offered out there. All of life is a gamble, just look at the stock market! Aptera is an idea you can chose to buy into or ignore, but as many as 4,000 California’s have taken the plunge. We have 16 properties and each posed an investment risk. With the real estate market still peaking in 2006, we paid off all of our morgages to own these free and clear. It was a calculated move knowing the market would turn down eventually.
Aptera is the same calculated risk or investment for us. We drive 90, 420 or 1720 miles round trip to our properties and an extended distance hybred that operates for pennies a mile makes sense for our circumstance. If its about liking how you look driving down the road alone, then you might not justify the purchase. If it meets the advertising claims or even close, it will save us $$$.