With the Sion, Sono Motors wanted to bring the first solar-powered car onto the market. Now auditors are expressing doubts about the continuation of the company.
Is the Munich electric car startup Sono Motors even worse than expected? Just under a month ago, the company, which started in 2016, announced that it would give up the development of the Sion solar car and instead want to establish itself as a supplier of solar panels. But a mandatory notification from the startup to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, about which first the magazine Capital reported, now shows: Sono Motors could face insolvency.
“Our auditors have expressed serious doubts about our ability to continue as a going concern,” it said. The next audit report is expected to come to the conclusion “that our capitalization at the time of the audit report will not be sufficient to continue business operations”.
In addition to the ongoing losses, the uncertainty about further rounds of financing is also a reason for the impending insolvency. “Therefore, there is a significant risk that we as a company could no longer exist and become insolvent,” the statement continues.
read too
Sono Motors: There is always a risk
When asked by the start-up scene, Sono Motors put the testers’ statement into perspective: “The fact that Sono Motors is dependent on outside capital is not new and remains part of the corresponding publications,” says the company. There is always the risk that financing rounds will not materialize. One is currently in talks to jump up the capital.
At the same time, the company needs “significantly” less capital since the end of the Sion program. This is partly due to the fact that around 250 jobs were cut in the course of hiring the Sion and other employees left the company.
The figures for the fourth quarter and the annual financial statements for 2022, which are expected in the coming weeks, should provide more detailed information about the financial situation. The final report from the responsible auditor, PwC, is then due at the latest. An exact date is not yet known.
No capital was raised for Solar-Auto Sion
The founders Laurin Hahn and Jona Christians started in 2016 with the aim of developing the first solar-powered e-car for the mass market. However, the capital required for this could not be raised by investors, shareholders or crowdfunding.
At the end of last year, Sono Motors tried again to collect 100 million euros from the community by pre-ordering the Sion. Overall, however, only around half of the targeted capital was raised, despite a renewed extension of the crowdfunding campaign. That ultimately meant the end of the Sion.
According to its own statements, the company did not even collect these 50 million because the funding target was not reached. All deposits that customers made before the current campaign are now to be repaid within two years using a repayment plan.
read too
