Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Aurica Motors announces plan to keep NUMMI plant open by manufacturing electric cars
Fremont, Calif., March 10th, 2010 — Electric car company Aurica Motors announced today a plan to keep the NUMMI plant, which employs 4,700 people, from shutting down when Toyota vacates the premises on March 31.
Under the proposed plan, the NUMMI plant in Fremont, California will be converted into the manufacturing facility for the Aurica Motors E-Car, an affordable all-electric zero-emissions vehicle. Starting in April 2010, the NUMMI workforce will be retrained in electric car manufacturing while the plant is retooled and the final engineering of the vehicle is completed, with the first car scheduled to come off the line within 2 years.
Saving NUMMI will have an economic impact that goes beyond the plant and its 4,700 employees. It is estimated that another 50,000 people work for companies who supply the massive plant with parts and services. NUMMI is the only automotive manufacturing plant West of the Mississippi and a cornerstone of the Bay Area economy.
Aurica intends to obtain Federal economic stimulus funding to convert NUMMI to electric car manufacturing and build the Aurica E-Car Series. Tesla (electric) and Fisker (hybrid) have already received a combined $1 billion in government stimulus funding to build electric vehicles each priced around $100,000. The Aurica E-Car Series will cost less than half of this and will offer four body styles built to fit on the same chassis. Aurica Motors will combine its own key proprietary technologies with parts and tooling from strategic partners (to be announced).
About Aurica Motors:
Aurica Motors was founded by a Silicon Valley physicist, working with a team of engineers over the past four years to develop proprietary technologies that make all-electric cars more practical and accessible. For example, Aurica’s Recurve Drive electronics system enables any electric car to travel farther on the same battery charge. Aurica’s batteries can either be recharged by plugging into the grid, or exchanged in 3 minutes for a battery charged with renewable energy at an Aurica Power Exchange Package (PEP) swapping station. This makes the Aurica E-Car more environmentally viable than other electric cars that depend entirely on grid energy, which comes primarily from fossil fuels such as coal and oil. On the company’s website at auricamotors.com, Aurica defines itself as “The electric car with a purpose: to make electric cars more practical while saving 4,700 NUMMI jobs, the Bay Area economy, and the environment.”
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About Christopher DeMorro
“Over the years the plant gave us the Geo Prizm, the Toyota Hilux, and Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix, among many other items.”
Just a small technical detail. Although the Vibe was made at NUMMI, the Toyota Matrix never was. It’s an easy mistake to make because the two are on the same platform, but the Matrix is made in a Japanese plant. Toyota Corolla was made at the NUMMI plant (along with Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Tacoma). Corolla and Vibe share the same drive-trains.
Anyway, I home Aurica is able to make a go of it and keep the plant alive.
“Over the years the plant gave us the Geo Prizm, the Toyota Hilux, and Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix, among many other items.”
Just a small technical detail. Although the Vibe was made at NUMMI, the Toyota Matrix never was. It’s an easy mistake to make because the two are on the same platform, but the Matrix is made in a Japanese plant. Toyota Corolla was made at the NUMMI plant (along with Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Tacoma). Corolla and Vibe share the same drive-trains.
Anyway, I home Aurica is able to make a go of it and keep the plant alive.
Nummi has never built the Toyota Matrix. That was built in Japan and Canada.
Nummi has never built the Toyota Matrix. That was built in Japan and Canada.