Just months after its CEO declared a new stage of growth, Chandler-based Local Motors is shutting down.
Multiple employees have posted about the company closing on their LinkedIn pages, though the company has not yet put out an official statement.
The news was originally reported on Jan. 12 by The Drive, a website dedicated to automotive news. Representatives from Local Motors did not immediately return a request for comment.
Chris Stoner, formerly a VP at Local Motors, wrote on his LinkedIn page that the company will shut down on Friday.
“I am disheartened to announce that Local Motors will cease to exist as of January 14,” Stoner wrote on Jan. 12. “The autonomous vehicle space is an exciting emerging market with plenty of opportunity. Experiencing first-hand the skill and dedication of the people I worked with, I have no doubt AVs (like Olli) are the future of transportation.”
Ivan Golubic, formerly the interim CFO, also wrote about the company shutting down on his LinkedIn page.
In October, AZ Inno spoke with Vikrant Aggarwal, Local Motors’ CEO, who said the company was preparing for a new stage of growth.
“We have grown revenue year over year, even during Covid,” he said on Oct. 19. “When I started in 2019, we were just starting to have some revenue. Last year [2020], we had minimal revenue, and this year we're going to grow the revenue by fivefold. And the expectation is that we grow the revenue three to four fold in the next year.”
Aggarwal said Local Motors was adversely affected during the pandemic but that it was well positioned to keep growing. Automakers have been impacted by global supply issues, especially lacking semiconductors, but Aggarwal said Local Motors was in no better or worse shape than other automotive manufacturers.
The company employed 75 people, down from 145 in 2019, in October with about 20% or 30% of its staff in Arizona, a few remote workers and the majority in Tennessee.
Founded in 2007, the company debuted what it called the first 3D-printed car in 2014 using a large-scale manufacturing 3D printer.
Local Motors was most recently building an autonomous shuttle called Olli, which was deployed in several locations around the world. The company debuted Olli in 2016, but it will be remembered most fondly for the Rally Fighter, a vehicle it produced from 2009 to 2016.
The company laid off employees in 2017 and again during the Covid-19 pandemic. Local Motors relocated and expanded its Chandler HQ in late 2020.
