EV maker Canoo moves HQ from North Texas and doubles-down on northwest Arkansas

Electric vehicle maker Canoo is moving its headquarters from North Texas to Northwest Arkansas, where it is planning a major expansion.

The company, now based in Justin in the offices of its chairman and CEO Tony Aquila, said Monday it will establish its corporate office and “advanced industrialization facility” in Walmart’s hometown of Bentonville, Ark., And an R&D center in Fayetteville .

Canoo also said it is on track to start manufacturing its electric vehicles by the end of 2022. The Fayetteville research and development center will support advances in vehicle electronics and powertrains.

“Our discipline continues to be Big News or No News,” Aquila said in a statement released along with the company’s third quarter results.

Aquila said it will work to finalize agreements totaling approximately $ 400 million with Arkansas and Oklahoma, where Canoo announced plans for its first manufacturing facility in June. This 400 acre assembly plant is planned in Pryor, approximately 45 minutes east of Tulsa and 90 minutes west of Bentonville.

The agreements include approximately $ 100 million in incentives and an additional $ 100 million in vehicle orders with the states and universities in which the company has facilities.

Canoo Chairman and CEO Tony Aquila.(Juan Figueroa / employee photographer)

The company also announced that it has selected Panasonic as the battery manufacturer for its vehicles.

During an investor day in June, Canoo announced it had developed a van, pickup truck, and sedan, all of which are front, rear, and all-wheel drive. The base-model sedan, dubbed the “Lifestyle Vehicle,” starts at $ 34,750 and has a range of 250 miles per charge.

Canoo grew to around 800 employees in the third quarter and completed engineering and construction work, the company said.

The company’s ambitious expansion is due to its continued pre-production losses of $ 208 million for the first nine months of this year. It had just under $ 415 million in cash as of September 30.

Aquila private equity firm invested $ 35 million in Canoo last summer as the company entered the process of merging with a special purpose vehicle (SPAC). Canoo went public in December and was listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker GOEV.

Aquila took over the chairmanship and was named CEO in April after Canoo co-founder and former BMW board member Ulrich Kranz resigned. Aquila then moved Canoo’s corporate offices from California to Texas and shifted the focus of the business.

He started his Dallas-based private equity firm AFV Partners after stepping down as CEO of Westlake-based automotive software company Solera Holdings. Aquila later sued Solera for withholding $ 100 million in stock options he believed he owed. The litigation raised questions about how the company was run during his tenure.

When Canoo selected Oklahoma for its manufacturing facility, Aquila said Texas was being considered, but had to decide if the company was “big enough for fish in this pond.” Tesla has relocated its headquarters to Texas under the leadership of Elon Musk and is building a huge factory in Austin. New EV darling Rivian is considering Fort Worth for a $ 5 billion manufacturing facility that would be the second in the U.S.

Canoo’s Oklahoma factory is expected to employ up to 2,000 people. On Monday, the company announced that it will also create new R&D, software development, and customer support and funding centers in Oklahoma for an additional 700 jobs.

The company said its Arkansas expansion will result in approximately 545 jobs.

“Canoo’s choice of Northwest Arkansas for its corporate headquarters, technology center, and development facilities is a great example of why our state has put so much effort and energy into computer science education and workforce training and development over the past few years,” said Governor Asa Hutchinson in a statement.

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