Lightyear, a manufacturer of solar-powered electric vehicles, announced that it is ceasing production of its premium Lightyear 0, a flagship model that retails for €250,000. Despite only beginning to produce the car three months ago, Lightyear is reorganising to concentrate on creating the Lightyear 2, which will sell for about €40,000.
The announcement comes as many manufacturers of electric vehicles postpone production and delivery dates due to a number of macroeconomic issues, including a lack of semiconductors, a lack of batteries, and rising material costs as a result of inflation. Throwing money into an extremely expensive model simply doesn’t make sense from a business standpoint, particularly in light of consumer recession fears and EV startups’ struggles to get cars off the assembly line.