Autonomy is a startup that allows drivers to have access to an electric car by subscription. The American company has been successful throughout the country, although mainly in California, where it currently offers a large fleet of Teslas. The company’s objective is to scale operations, and for this nothing better than increasing the fleet of vehicles. Not one or a couple hundred, Autonomy has requested 23,000 units from various manufacturers, an order valued at more than 1,200 million dollars.
Of course, such a record has quickly come to light. All the media have echoed one of the largest orders for electric cars in history, although it is not the first time we have seen something like this. Some time ago, in the middle of last year, Hertz, the rental company, made public an order for more than 100,000 vehicles, a contract valued at 4.2 billion dollars. At that time Tesla was the only supplier, but on this occasion Autonomy has chosen to distribute the order among different manufacturers.
The list of brands is very diverse, although there are two companies that account for most of the orders. 17 brands in total, 22,790 vehicles in total with a value of 1.2 billion dollars. A money that will be invested through different funds and investments that are betting on the future of the company. From Autonomy they are very satisfied with the contract: “This order of 23,000 cars will allow us to diversify away from Tesla and enter different price ranges.” The first units are expected to be delivered at the end of this year or the beginning of next.
Tesla will remain the company’s largest supplier, adding 8,300 units of Model 3 and Model Y for a total value of 443.2 million dollars. General Motors will be the second largest beneficiary of the electric rain, adding 3,400 orders worth 138.7 million dollars. The third largest contract will be for Volkswagen, we imagine for the ID.4 given the recent start of production in the United States. The Germans take 2,200 orders for a total value of 106.9 million dollars.
The list goes on and on until there are 17 different manufacturers that Autonomy hopes to hit different price points with. The presence of brands such as VinFast stands out, which will offer 400 cars for a value of 19.4 million, Lucid, whose order reaches 100 units for a price of 10.1 million, Fisker, another 100 units with a value of 4.3 million or Canoo, which will deliver 100 vehicles after receiving a total payment of 3.8 million. In addition to them, we must add well-known brands such as BMW, Mercedes, Rivian, Toyota or Hyundai.
Despite the successful announcement of the contract, the controversy has quickly jumped. Polestar is listed with a 200-unit order worth $10.1 million. Nevertheless, the Swedish company has denied any agreement with the American company, neither through the parent company itself nor through any point of the commercial network. To put the figures in context, the 23,000 units requested by Autonomy exceed electric sales in Spain so far this year. In the United States, it represents 1.2% of the projected production until the end of 2023.
