Sono Motors
Munich-based solar-powered car startup Sono Motors raised hundreds of millions including a Nasdaq IPO, but cancelled its consumer Sion vehicle in early 2023 and filed for insolvency three months later.
2016 → 2023
$400M
Automotive/Solar EV
Germany
Full Analysis
Sono Motors was founded in 2016 to build the Sion, a solar-paneled affordable EV. It raised over €100M via crowdfunding and tens of thousands of pre-orders, then went public on Nasdaq in 2021. By February 2023 the company cancelled the Sion programme — citing inability to fund the €100M+ needed to start serial production — and pivoted to solar-integration B2B. By May 2023 Sono filed for insolvency in Munich. It became one of the most-cited European EV failures and a cautionary tale about retail-investor-funded hardware.
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