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[MVetter]

Ok, was able to find out more. Here's the big announcement:

They are abandoning the new factory under construction in Canada. Everything is being moved to their CA facilities. At this time that means 999 Andersen Dr, San Rafael, CA 94901 which is a large-ish building with nearly a dozen other tenants.



Here's a LinkedIn short featuring the San Rafael crew. Should be noted that 3 of the 9 listed employees have been fired/let go.

edit- it looks like with the space shared between them and Michael's Sourdough Sandwiches that catered lunches will be no problem at all.

[HoodRichOG]

Are they actually abandoning their new factory?

This reminds me an awful lot of Lightning and their factory in China, complete with huge logo...

[MVetter]

Jay decided to appear in a month and a half old reddit thread and drop all this. https://old.reddit.com/r/Electricmotorcycles/comments/11vucs1/damon_motorcycles_layoffs_janfeb_2023/

You can view his profile here: https://old.reddit.com/user/Jaygiraud

We're shifting production to our facility in California when we're ready to start production, which is delayed due to some challenges in 2022. The building here in Vancouver proved to be too expensive and unfortunately the Gov of Canada and BC are not providing any support to create jobs. US is WAY more supportive in that regard. If you're a reservation holder, you've got an email in your inbox providing details. Thanks for your support! Making something from nothing is about the most challenging thing there is, but man is it worth it. All the best

Jay

[Richard230]

Jay decided to appear in a month and a half old reddit thread and drop all this. https://old.reddit.com/r/Electricmotorcycles/comments/11vucs1/damon_motorcycles_layoffs_janfeb_2023/

You can view his profile here: https://old.reddit.com/user/Jaygiraud

We're shifting production to our facility in California when we're ready to start production, which is delayed due to some challenges in 2022. The building here in Vancouver proved to be too expensive and unfortunately the Gov of Canada and BC are not providing any support to create jobs. US is WAY more supportive in that regard. If you're a reservation holder, you've got an email in your inbox providing details. Thanks for your support! Making something from nothing is about the most challenging thing there is, but man is it worth it. All the best

Jay

Producing electric motorcycles in Marin County is not going to be all that cheap, either.  My daughter lives in Marin and every time she tries to make an improvement to her home, the county wants to get involved with lots of expensive permits and inspections, along with requirements to notify all of the neighborhood residents to see if they have any objections to what is going to be done. But maybe that new facility will just be their HQ offices and a place to assemble prototypes and they will go looking for another production factory in someplace like Texas or Alabama?   

[MVetter]

"We're shifting production to our facility in California when we're ready to start production"

[Richard230]

It just seemed to me that establishing a vehicle production facility in the city of San Rafael is kind of odd from a financial viewpoint. It is a very expensive place for the workers to live, in comparison with other areas of California or other states. And there will be a lot of burdensome state and local regulations to follow for the company.

[NEW2elec]

That is not the factory location.

That is the home office location.

[MVetter]

Any word on where the factory location might be?

[NEW2elec]

My guess and only a guess would be make the 26 bikes aka the Founders Edition bikes at the San Fran spot and go from there.

My snark answer would be take over the Zero factory when it (likely) goes over seas.

[HoodRichOG]

Holy fucking shit, is the CEO really blaming the government for his company's problems?

Really giving me Lightning vibes. Wasn't there a point when Strike production was delayed because of trump tariffs?

Also, wasn't that factory built to spec for Damon, with all financing secured including for tooling and machinery, and wasn't it supposed to be one of their major advantages.

If he thinks the government there isn't helping enough (didn't they literally have government people appear in a marketing video praising investments made) wait until he finds out how much manufacturing in California costs!

[Specter]

It's a typical  duck / run / and blame the world for your own incompetence tactic.

california is NOT friendly to business really.  The price of doing business there, for a company that is barely making it as it is, is going to kill them, BUT this gives them the perfect excuse to just go away.

The government was the cause of our failure, they didn't do this,  that person didn't do that, this didn't happen, it's the worlds fault, I was a wait for it....  I was the VICTIM WAAAAHHHH feel sorry for me and give me my compensation.

sounds like a typical sjw snowflake loser.

good riddance, it won't be long now..   this IS the exit scheme.
must have taken lessons from the crypto market

Aaron

[Starpower]

Jay decided to appear in a month and a half old reddit thread and drop all this. https://old.reddit.com/r/Electricmotorcycles/comments/11vucs1/damon_motorcycles_layoffs_janfeb_2023/

You can view his profile here: https://old.reddit.com/user/Jaygiraud

We're shifting production to our facility in California when we're ready to start production, which is delayed due to some challenges in 2022. The building here in Vancouver proved to be too expensive and unfortunately the Gov of Canada and BC are not providing any support to create jobs. US is WAY more supportive in that regard. If you're a reservation holder, you've got an email in your inbox providing details. Thanks for your support! Making something from nothing is about the most challenging thing there is, but man is it worth it. All the best

Jay

I'm a reservation holder and did not receive the mentioned email. Yep, this is all looking dismal......

[CagivaRider]

I got the letter. There are at least two versions. One is for people with early North America deposits. The other, shorter, version is for other parts of the world. The first batch of bikes will come out of the California factory. Twenty five percent of the early orders are from California. I will probably drive down from Washington State to pick mine up when it is ready.
Patience is a virtue at the moment. As I said previously, I can afford to lose $US 100 if Damon fails, but like saving thousands when they succeed.

[MVetter]

Each bike comes with a fresh loaf of sourdough from down the hall!

[HoodRichOG]

Is this so called "California factory" an actual thing or is it something Damon is making up to make it looks like there is progress? Hard to tell from here.