Massive new car factory for Pryor

[SXSW]

If Oklahoma somehow blows the Panasonic deal, it might be the last straw in terms of me starting to look to move out of state. Not that it affects me personally, but it would show that the state isn't progressing at all. Fingers crossed.

The Sunflower site in Kansas is likely a better site halfway between Lawrence and Kansas City.  So closer to where workers currently live vs the more isolated Mid-America location.  While of course I want to see Oklahoma land it I can understand and won't be too surprised if it doesn't.  Plenty of future opportunities available, and glad that OK is getting into the mix on these expansions.

[Tulsan]

Take it with a grain of salt - because nobody knows - but I heard rumors that Panasonic may split the factory and do both sites to ensure they can fill all positions.

[tulsabug]

So we've gone from OK is gonna get it to KS is gonna get it to we're both gonna get it which means only one thing....


Texas is gonna get it.   

[tulsabug]

Now talk of delaying the Canoo plant due to BS reasons.

https://tulsaworld.com/business/local/canoos-proposed-electric-vehicle-plant-in-pryor-could-be-delayed-industrial-park-head-says/article_4421c660-f896-11ec-945c-93628edd01aa.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

FTA - "It is in delay mode, but that's for a number of reasons," MAIP Chief Administrative Officer David Stewart said Thursday before a regular meeting of the Oklahoma Ordnance Works Authority, which operates the industrial park.

"The whole EV market has taken a significant hit. The stock market is challenged at best," he continued.

"Supply-chain issues are big, as they are with all companies, but especially with a start-up that has a new product. Canoo's goal is to have this 100% made in the U.S., so that is also delaying the project.

"Finally, construction costs are through the roof. So the right financial decision is to wait until these supply-chain issues and construction costs go down and the construction labor market builds."

My favorite take-away from that smorgasbord of excuses is Canoo's goal is to have this "100% made in the U.S., so that is also delaying the project." At face value this will guarantee they'll never build anything. No way can you make 100% of the parts in any one country since even if you have final assembly of every component here, all the components will be full of foreign made parts. I never had much confidence in this company actually doing anything but I've completely given up on these chuckleheads now - this whole thing is sooooo much vaporware and Stitt and his twits bought right into it.

[SXSW]

Construction costs aren't going down either.  High cost of everything is our "new normal"

[D-TownTulsan]

Some good news finally!

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/canoo-shares-soar-premarket-after-walmart-orders-4500-electric-delivery-vehicles-plus-option-for-up-to-10000-more-2022-07-12

[SXSW]

I didn't think the Walton's would let this die when they were moving their HQ to Bentonville and setting up a manufacturing operation there.  They still need to scale up before they really need the Pryor plant but this is a definitely a step in the right direction.  Hopefully this helps us land Panasonic as well.

[tulsabug]

All they're doing is leasing a building in Bentonville and they still need to build it out to make anything there. They're claiming they're going to start small-scale production of vehicles there while waiting on the Pryor factory to be built which, the last I read was Pryor is maybe 4-5 years out now. Seeing as how they don't have enough money in the bank to make it another quarter they're probably hoping the Wal-Mart deal with help them secure some more capital to keep things afloat. But building out the Bentonville location to be a headquarters, design/engineering studio and a mini-factory is gonna take some serious coin - I still don't see this happening. Rivian has $16b cash in the bank, has their own factory, made/sold over 4000 cars last quarter and they're still doing some lay-offs to keep their liquidity healthy. Canoo, on the other hand, is robbing Peter to pay Paul and think they can keep doing that for the next however many years until they magically can make tons of cars a year and become cash flow positive. Good luck with that.

However, yes, I do still hope we land the Panasonic plant but I'm also starting to wonder if Stitt has made a backroom deal with Panasonic to either announce it is happening in Sept/Oct or say it isn't happening in Dec.

[SXSW]

Well that's disappointing. 

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Automobiles/Panasonic-to-build-EV-battery-plant-for-Tesla-in-U.S.-state-of-Kansas

[Jake]

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Automobiles/Panasonic-to-build-EV-battery-plant-for-Tesla-in-U.S.-state-of-Kansas

The state absolutely blew it again. Large companies have skipped us over to our immediate south and now immediate north. State leadership has been an abject failure and this will continue until changes are made.

So completely demoralizing.

[Jake]

Panasonic themselves stated that they wanted it to be near the new Texas Tesla facility. Oklahoma did such a horrible job that they were willing to place the plant farther away.

Wow.

[SXSW]

Panasonic themselves stated that they wanted it to be near the new Texas Tesla facility. Oklahoma did such a horrible job that they were willing to place the plant farther away.

Wow.

Oklahoma was a longshot for Tesla but it seemed like Panasonic was a good fit.  Hopefully we find out more about their selection process, if it came down to incentives or if it was something else. 

Mid-America is a prime spot for manufacturing, if the state can get its act together they should be able to land these companies.

[shavethewhales]

Beyond disappointing. I don't blame them. The company has a better understanding of all the data than any of us and if they made this choice that means Kansas had a better combination of intrinsic qualities and subsidies. I think we were highly competitive with the subsidies, so once again it is the intrinsic factors of the state that are the issue. Not enough college grads sticking around, poor infrastructure, and a government of incapable lunatics among our many issues.

I'm tired of this. I thought we really had a shot at something... anything. I thought they might split the factory and put one in both locations as previously suggested. I didn't think we would get nothing at all. No Panasonic and no Canoo, and certainly no Tesla.

I'm over being optimistic for Tulsa.

[SXSW]

It's one thing to lose to Texas.  It's another thing altogether to lose to KANSAS. 

I think Tulsa still is a bright spot with unlimited potential but the state government has to change for us to really take the next step.

[ComeOnBenjals]

Terrible. No hope going forward for the state. We're moving backwards in every important category. Not sure how much longer I can take it here.