Canoo Furloughs 30 Workers For 12 Weeks As It Struggles To Stay In Business
The small company had just $4.51 million in cash and cash equivalents, according to its most recent filing.
Last year, Canoo delivered just 22 vehicles to customers.
The brand is also moving its headquarters to Texas.
EV startup Canoo is in dire straights and has revealed that 30 of its employees will be furloughed for 12 weeks. While furloughing 30 workers may not seem like much, it represents 23% of its factory workforce and comes amidst continued financial losses for the brand.
The workers are based in Oklahoma City, where Canoo has its assembly site, and will not be paid for the 12 weeks. They will retain health insurance, but only until the end of November. It’s a worrying development for the small company and demonstrates just how incredibly difficult and complex it is to start a car-making business from the ground up.
“Canoo has made the difficult decision to temporarily reduce our workforce in Oklahoma City by furloughing 23% of our factory workers for a period of twelve weeks as part of a broader realignment of our North American operations,” Canoo said in a statement to The Oklahoman. “This reduction is a continuation of our efforts to consolidate our U.S. workforce which includes redistributing some of our tenured and skilled employees to our Oklahoma City and Texas facilities as part of our comprehensive plan and supply chain harmonization to prepare the company for the next phase of growth.”
In addition to furloughing 23% of its factory staff, Canoo is moving its headquarters to Texas and is also relocating 137 engineering positions to the Lone Star State, as well as Oklahoma.
Canoo has been around for a few years, but it’s been slow-going as it attempts to crack into the market with its intriguing EVs. Last year, it only managed to deliver 22 vehicles and made just $886,000. It also caught some flak when it was revealed that the company had spent $1.7 million on private jet flights for its chief executive, Tony Aquila.
More recently, it was revealed that Canoo is the subject of two US lawsuits from suppliers who say they’re owed money by the firm. In one lawsuit, Air Capital Equipment claims Canoo owes it more than $570,000.
Canoo’s most recent 8-K filing revealed it has cash and cash equivalents of $4.51 million and reported a net loss of $117.6 million during the first half of 2024. It expects revenues of between $50 million and $100 million for 2024.
