8:54 am, February 6, 2024
The UK arm of Arrival has been placed into administration, putting over 170 jobs at risk.
Once one of the shining start-ups of the electric vehicle segment, Arrival was founded in 2015 in the UK by Russian billionaire and former government minister Denis Sverdlov.
It had its headquarters in Banbury, Oxfordshire, alongside nine further sites across the country. Arrival had intended to simply the build process of electric vans, buses and taxis by using ‘micro-factories’.
The Royal Mail trialled nine of its vehicles in 2018 while in 2020 Hyundai and Kia announced a $100m (£85m) investment plan with the firm to help develop next-generation electric vehicles. Postal firm UPS also ordered 10,000 vehicles.
It currently employs 400 people worldwide.
Arrival was also seen as one of the UK’s most promising tech firms and was invited to present at the Global Investment Summit in 2021.
Now, however, the firm has appointed EY as administrators after failing to rectify issues.
This latest announcement comes at the loss of 39 employees, according to EY, while a remaining 133 staff are ‘being retained to assist with the sale of the company’s business and its asset’.
In a statement, EY said: ‘The group’s liquidity position has been impacted by challenging market and macroeconomic conditions resulting in delays in getting the group’s products to market.
‘As such, the joint administrators are now exploring options for the sale of the business and assets of the companies, including its electric vehicle platforms, software, intellectual property and R&D assets, for the benefit of creditors.’
To date, more than $1.5bn has been invested in the firm, which aimed to specialise in ‘last-mile delivery vans, intracity buses and ride-sharing passenger cars’.
