|
Aurica Motors, LLC is a start-up based out of Santa Clara, California that develops a proprietary electronic power train called the Aurica Recurve for electric cars. The company has stated its intention to partner with other investors to manufacture electric cars that utilize its electronic power train system. Aurica Motors is an offshoot of Aurica Labs, a research and development company started and funded by physicist Greg Bender.〔 On March 10, 2010, Aurica Motors was thrust into the public spotlight with the announcement of its intentions to save the New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. (NUMMI) automotive plant in Fremont, California from completely shutting down. The NUMMI plant, a joint venture between Toyota and General Motors, opened in 1984 as an experiment to determine if unionized Americans could adapt Japanese production management practices. The plant rolled out its last vehicle on April 1, 2010, forcing 4,700 factory workers out and likely affecting thousands of part suppliers. In the same March announcement, Aurica also stated its intention to work with the NUMMI workforce to retrain it for electric car development and find financial backing to retool the plant. On May 20, 2010, both Tesla Motors and Toyota announced a joint effort to manufacture Tesla's electric vehicles at the former NUMMI plant.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Tesla Motors Announces Factory in Northern California )〕 Under the agreement, Toyota bought $50 million of common stock from Tesla Motors. Tesla then purchased a portion of the NUMMI property including the plant, with the goal of retrofitting the plant for its future “smaller third-generation car,” seemingly putting an end to Aurica's bid for the NUMMI plant. ==History and Financing== Aurica Motors was registered as a limited liability company in California on March 15, 2010. Five days earlier, the start-up publicly announced its long-term desire to save the NUMMI factory and thousands of plant and supplier jobs. “We want to keep the plant open, and we believe we have a very viable plan to do so by manufacturing electric cars,” said Matt Pitagora, general manager of Aurica. “It's all about keeping the lights on.” Aurica said that it would finance such an endeavor with an aggressive campaign to garner Federal economic stimulus funding and find investors. The company estimated that it would need nearly $1 billion in combined financing to retrain workers and get the factory up and running. Aurica claimed to have begun negotiating with NUMMI in early 2010 to discuss the plant’s future but a plant spokesman said on March 10 that “there has not been an opportunity for productive discussions with Aurica.” Pitagora has so far refused to release details to the public on current investors and amount of financing already obtained.〔 On March 30, 2010, Aurica released a press release stating that it had gained two new partnerships to further their goals. The company announced that it partnered with the Clean Tech Institute (CTI) of San Jose, California to develop training curriculum on electric auto manufacturing with the intent of offering it to NUMMI plant staff. CTI released further details on its Web site indicating that it would offer two different intensive programs to NUMMI staff: a photovoltaic specialist course and a more entry-level electrical systems course.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=NUMMI Employee Clean Tech Orientation )〕 Aurica also announced a partnership with Motive Industries, a specialized vehicle manufacturer based in Calgary, Canada.〔 Motive has already supplied a series of concept car designs to Aurica for public display.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Aurica Motors's Photos - Concept car designs )〕 With the May 20, 2010 announcement of the purchase of the NUMMI plant by Tesla Motors, Aurica's bid to purchase the factory ended. However Aurica stated on its Web site that it would still attempt to work with former NUMMI employees to retrain them for “work manufacturing Aurica electric cars in the Silicon Valley.”〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The NUMMI plant shutdown put 4,700 people out of work. How Aurica will help. )〕 The startup hasn't made it clear if it has alternative manufacturing sites in its future plans. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Aurica Motors」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|