Ford Th!nk Neighbor
For Th!nk it has been a lingering existence; but, now, Think Nordic, which is based in Aurskog, northeast of Oslo, is expected to go into liquidation. The company built the Think City and Think Neighbor for the Ford Motor Co. until late 2002, “when Ford lost faith in battery-powered cars as a way of reducing pollution.” In response to pressure from activists and at variance with action taken by General Motors with the EV1, Ford returned about 300 to Norway in 2004 rather than crushing all the tiny Think cars imported to the United States for a three-year test.
Despite efforts to develop new models and an 11 million kroner ($1.6 million) grant from the Norwegian Research Council in May, Think Nordic suffered chronic economic problems and was never able to resume full production. About 1,000 of the cars were made… “This is a sad day,” Think Nordic CEO Christopher Neal told The Associated Press. “I hope and believe in a future for the electric car.”LA Times (Tiny URL)
Think Nordic AS declared bankruptcy Tuesday after failing to meet wages or other payment obligations. As previously noted, there had been an effort to increase investor interest by possible addition of a fuel cell. But, neither prospective or retrospective seemed to help.
Neal said the company had no immediate prospects for a new project, under Think or any other name, but he hoped investors would be drawn by the expertise built up by the Think staff. I wonder how much they like Indian food?
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[...] Bat Scap has €150 million to invest and hopes to see a new manufacturing facility built in Brittany “with an eventual planned capacity of 10,000 battery systems a year.” So, some Think engineers could find work there rather than in re-designing the Reva for rupees, eh? [...]