2023 was supposed to be the year when the first Sion rolled off the production line in Finland and onto the streets. However, that doesn’t look like it will happen: Sono Motors has launched the #saveSion campaign, which—as the name suggests—is intended to ‘save’ the Sion. In a statement about the campaign, the two Sono Motors founders Jona Christians and Laurin Hahn explain why this rescue is necessary:
“Sono Motors has achieved important operational and commercial milestones over the course of the year. These include new promising partnerships in our solar business and the unveiling of our Sion series validation vehicles. At the same time, financial markets experienced a downturn, and many technology companies have lost up to 90 percent of their market capitalization. Stock prices of mobility providers in particular have been hit hard. As a result, financing our Sion program through equity financing has become increasingly difficult and leads to dilution. Raising the necessary funds is taking much longer than expected.”
3,500 reservations in 50 days
Many investors have also advised them to focus on the less capital-intensive B2B solar business and abandon the Sion program. A corporate restructuring would also affect the workforce; according to the company, 70 percent of employees would need to be laid off. Since Sono Motors already has over 20,000 reservations for the Sion, the company now wants to let its community decide whether the Sion program should continue:
“We are now launching a Sion reservation campaign for 3,500 Sions, which we’re calling #saveSion and which will last 50 days. Initially, reservists will receive a discount of up to 3,000 euros on the final price of their Sion. These deposits are only due if the campaign is successful. Additionally, supporters of the campaign will receive a fixed waiting list number for their Sion.”
If the campaign goal is achieved, 3,500 fully paid Sion reservations would demonstrate, from the founders’ perspective, that the community wants to see the Sion on the street. Without the 3,000-euro discount granted at the beginning of the campaign, the Sion can be reserved at a list price of around 30,000 euros. Originally, the Sion was supposed to be available for around 25,000 euros.
Sono Motors’s future is not at stake
Sono Motors knows all about ‘rescue in 50 days’: in early 2020, the company was able to raise 50 million euros in just 50 days through a community funding campaign. Financial difficulties persisted afterward, and an initial public offering on the American technology exchange Nasdaq was supposed to provide the company with breathing room in 2021. In their statement, the two founders explain why they have reached a financial bottleneck once again:
“Since we have received hardly any government funding, we must continue to focus on our community and capital markets. Since 2016, we have been able to raise over 400 million euros net in financed and committed capital—an incredible sum by German standards. But only a disappointing 0.25 percent of that came from the government. And to put it in perspective: we only needed five years from the first concept to the preparation of the pre-series. A timeframe that established OEMs often also need for the development of a new model. However, developing a car normally costs up to one billion euros. We have come this far with less than half that amount.”
Finally, Jona Christians and Laurin Hahn emphasized that the #saveSion campaign is not about the future of Sono Motors, but ‘only’ about the future of the Sion:
“If we are unable to successfully complete the campaign, we plan to focus on our attractive B2B solar business, which is significantly less capital-intensive. We believe that thanks to our current and expected liquidity of around 55 million euros as well as other available resources, we would be able to successfully realign the company purely on the solar business.”
