Canoo takes over Arrival’s production equipment
The systems include machines for the production of driver’s cabs such as robots, dosing systems, control units and PLC controls as well as systems for the expansion of general assembly capacities. These include safety equipment and “high-tech vehicle testing equipment” as well as spare parts. “All equipment was acquired at a discount of over 80 per cent of the appraised value,” according to a Canoo statement.
Canoo has not only acquired Arrival’s production equipment from the UK. According to its own information, the startup acquired “substantially all of the new and like-new assets of Arrival Automotive USA, Inc.” in January. These assets were moved from Arrival’s plant in North Carolina to Canoo’s plant in Oklahoma, where they are currently being put into operation.
The acquisition of the new production equipment should enable the US startup to meet its 2024 production targets and significantly reduce production costs in 2025, Canoo said in its press release. “The assets purchased in this opportunistic transaction will accelerate Canoo’s transition to automated processes by shortening purchase lead times by over 40%, reducing capital expenditures by 20%, and eventually lowering unit costs. Canoo’s strategy in the near term is to improve its processes and product quality while it is producing at low volumes, allowing for simultaneous completion of supply chain harmonization and implementation of customer feedback before entering high-volume production,” the company writes.
Canoo’s order books are filling up. In January, for example, the company signed an agreement with the US Postal Service (USPS). Under this agreement, the startup was to deliver six units of its Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle 190 (LD 190) by the end of the first quarter of 2024.
Canoo builds its Lifestyle Vehicle (LV) and its cargo variant, the Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle (LDV), at its plant in the US state of Oklahoma. The manufacturer acquired this plant at the end of 2022. The company also operates an assembly plant for battery modules in Pryor, around 240 kilometres north of the production site.
Last November, Canoo announced plans to ramp up production at its Oklahoma plant after receiving conditional funding for its vehicle and battery assembly plant a few months earlier. The state of Oklahoma and the Cherokee Nation plan to provide up to $113 million in subsidies – provided Canoo meets its own investment and job creation goals. The manufacturer agreed to invest more than $320 million in the vehicle and battery assembly plant in Pryor to create more than 1,360 jobs.
The British electric vehicle developer Arrival filed for insolvency at the beginning of February. Insolvency administrators were then exploring options for the sale of the company’s business and assets, including its electric vehicle platform, software, intellectual property and R&D assets.
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