Description
Canoo is a startup American manufacturer of electric vehicles. The company plans to sell a minivan in the year 2022. The company's also plans to produce commercial electric vehicles such as vans for vehicle rental and ride sharing services.
History
Canoo was founded in 2017 under the name Evelozcity by Stefan Krause and Ulrich Kranz. Krause worked for Deutsche Bank as its chief financial officer while Kranz worked for BMW as a senior executive. Both men met at rival EV company Faraday Future before leaving together to form their own company in 2017 due to disagreement with Faraday Future's leadership. Upon founding Canoo, Krause took on the role of chief executive officer at Canoo while Kranz became Canoo's chief technology officer. The company received its primary funding from Chinese investor Li "David" Pak-Tam/Botan and German entrepreneur David Stern.
In April 2018, Canoo hired Karl-Thomas Neumann, the former head of Opel as a senior executive.
In March 2019 the company was renamed from Evelozcity to Canoo.
In July 2019, Karl-Thomas Neumann left Canoo while remaining as an investor in the company.
In September 2019, the company presented its first vehicle prototype, the electric van Canoo.
In February 2020, Hyundai Motor Group, the parent company of Hyundai Motors and Kia Motors, announced that the company will partner with Canoo on the joint development of a new electric vehicle platform. The platform would be utilized for compact vehicles as well as fleet vehicles such as shuttles. The deal is part of Hyundai's Strategy 2025 program which will see Hyundai investing $87 billion USD for five years starting in 2020.
In July 2020, co-founder Stefan Krause left the company. He had previously taken an extended leave of absence from Canoo in August 2019 in order to address family matters. Co-founder Ulrich Kranz assumed the role of permanent CEO upon Krause's departure.
Also in July 2020, Canoo was featured on the TV program Jay Leno's Garage.
In September 2020, Canoo announced a merger with the special purpose acquisition company Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. IV. (NASDAQ:HCACU.O), with the intent to list Canoo on the NASDAQ with a valuation of $2.4 billion. The expectation was to raise $300 million to help finance the production of the Canoo minivan, planned for launch in 2022. On December 22, 2020, Canoo completed its merger with Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp IV. and was listed on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol (NASDAQ:GOEV).
A few days before its stock exchange entry, the company announced its MPDV - Multi-Purpose Delivery Vehicle - product line. The entry level van is expected to sell for $33,000 when it arrives in limited quantities in 2022, ramping up to volume production in 2023.
In mid-January 2021, The Verge reported that, in the first half of 2020, Canoo had been in talks with tech giant Apple for a potential role in its secretive Titan car project.
On March 11, 2021, Canoo announced an electric pick-up truck set to release in 2023. Canoo will offer both single-motor and dual-motor all-wheel drive options for their pick-up truck, with the latter being capable of producing 600 horsepower and 550 foot-pounds of torque. The company also said that the truck will have 200+ miles (322 km) of range and a 1,800 pound payload capacity. After the announcement, shares of the company rose by 14%.
It was later announced in March 2021 that Canoo had terminated its partnership with Hyundai Motor Group due to a change in corporate strategy. The company also announced that it would shift away from vehicle subscriptions to selling commercial vehicles.
On April 22, 2021, the company announced that co-founder and CEO Ulrich Kranz was stepping down and would be replaced by Chairman Tony Aquilla as CEO.
In April 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission launched an investigation into Canoo after its merger with Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. IV due to a string of executive departures, sudden changes to its business model, and class-action lawsuits brought by shareholders.
On June 17, 2021 the company announced they would build a new factory in Pryor, just outside Tulsa, Oklahoma to manufacture all of their future vehicles. The plant will be used to build "pod-shaped vans it calls 'lifestyle vehicles' beginning in 2023." The same day Dutch media reported that the Dutch company VDL Nedcar would start producing Canoo Minivans for the European market.
