Swedish electric car start-up Uniti should have been the next big thing after Tesla. But a new media report is fading hope for a second miracle.
Tesla is one piece of evidence that smart ideas, a dazzling CEO and a lot of venture capital can become a car manufacturer of global importance. The meteoric rise of the US group has produced a number of imitators and start-ups, which have attracted a lot of attention and often a great deal of media coverage with interesting concepts, charismatic minds and excitingly styled cars. But almost as many of these newcomers have meanwhile disappeared from the scene without a word.
The Swedish company Uniti, which caused a sensation in 2017 with the electric wonder car One, will soon be part of this growing group. An article published today by Filter magazine's Swedish investigative journalists suggests that Uniti may be further than ever from actually realizing the series production of the One originally announced for 2019.
Is there any production at all?
Apart from a show car of the One, a small electric car in Smart format, the company founded by Australian-born Lewis Horne has so far failed to provide any evidence of its plans, which from today's perspective sound bizarrely grandiose. The Filter report lists some of the ambitious goals that are obviously castles in the air. The “factory 4.0” in Landskrona, Sweden, which should have been built with Siemens and equipped with Kuka robots, simply does not exist.
Of the 300.000 cars announced for 2020, not a single one has been built yet. More plants and lots of jobs in Silverstone, England, in India and Georgia? none. The pre-order volume of 50 million euros also seems to be of little value, because behind it there are only 3.500 non-binding reservations for which a fee of 149 euros was charged. Particularly bold: According to the Filter report, the Uniti car “2021” presented to investors in 0 is actually the electric Zhidou D3, which was imported from China and only redesigned with a new color and new bumper for the presentation.
Was there even a chance for Uniti?
Uniti boss Horne already acknowledged problems due to the corona pandemic and financial bottlenecks in a LinkedIn post at the end of 2021. The Uniti team is now said to have shrunk considerably in terms of personnel. In the 15-page cover story of Filter Magazine, published in Swedish, former Uniti employees are also quoted with unflattering statements about the company boss. A former start-up manager says of Lewis Horne: “He thinks he’s Elon Musk, but he’s just a fraud, he doesn’t know anything about cars.” The former Uniti PR manager explains the hype surrounding the start-up with the charisma of the company founder: “Lewis could sell you a pencil for a million dollars.”