Lightyear has already stopped production of Lightyear 0

Barely two weeks after the news that Lightyear has opened orders for its second model, the Lightyear 2, which should be on the market for €40,000, the small Dutch manufacturer of extremely efficient solar cars has now announced that it is in financial trouble. It has therefore been decided to stop production of the Lightyear 0, which was sold for €250,000 in a limited edition, before the first customer cars have been delivered. The company has also filed for bankruptcy in court.

Investors wanted

Now Lightyear has been smart enough to divide its activities into different BVs, each of which takes care of its own part of the operation, precisely to prevent the entire company from going under if one of the branches runs into financial problems. In this case, it is Atlas Technologies, which is responsible for the production of the Lightyear 0, that has applied for a deferral of payment to its creditors. So the other parts – in theory – remain unaffected. Lightyear itself indicates that it is now fully focusing on the development of the Lightyear 2, which should go into production in 2025.

Nevertheless, this news makes it clear that Lightyear urgently needs to look for investments, because without the sale of the Lightyear 0 little or no money will flow in. So either a lot of pre-orders have to be placed for the Lightyear 2, or a large and generous investor has to be found to secure the future of the company. But without the R&D of the Lightyear 0, a lot of knowledge needed for the Lightyear 2 will also be lost.