Looks like this is where Tiara has gone

This is part of an email sent to me by Aptera Motors. Thought you guys might like to know about Tiara;


A stroke of good fortune came in March of 2009 during our first visit to Washington DC. On that trip Aptera executives were introduced to entrepreneur and businessman David Slikkers, president and CEO of Energetx composites. The introduction came by way of one of the many members of Congress that we met during the visit.

Energetx is the surname given to the company that was formerly known as Tiara Boats (a small to midsized premium yacht manufacturer). I say formerly because as yachting is a leisure activity, much of Tiara's core business had been adversely impacted by the recent economic changes. Seeing those changes on the horizon, the leadership at Tiara had repurposed parts of their business to focus on other technology sectors that could benefit from their nearly 50 years of manufacturing and composites experience. In particular they have focused their business on various sectors of clean tech. This new focus is what created Energetx Composites.

As Energetx, Slikkers' company has earned contracts with wind and solar power providers, commercial transportation and U.S. government contractors. All of these new technology clients, along with the company's proven quality production systems helped to develop Energetx quality and system controls to levels that were unmatched in many of the other companies that the Aptera team had reviewed (and we review a lot of companies). The end result was an engagement, between Aptera and Energetx Composites. As an entreprenial, high tech, composite manufacturer with proprietary manufacturing and process technologies, we thing Energetx is ideal to work with Aptera.

Energetx was an interesting find. As a family owned business (presently with about 300 employees),S0 front Energetx makes use of more than 50 years of manufacturing experience and technology, and reapplies it to a wide variety of other high tech, business sectors. The company has a strong dedication to quality and continuous product and process development. Consequently, Energetx has committed millions of dollars to outfitting their nearly 1 million square foot facility with most of the systems and equipment necessary to manufacture products, like the Aptera body, in high quality, high volume, and at low cost. These were the very same systems that we would have had to purchase and develop from scratch. Instead, we will make use of the talent and experience of their team, as well as the tremendous capital investments they have already made. That is, with a little bit of our secret sauce sprinkled in for good measure, of course.

Interestingly, the team at Energetx has never supplied to an automotive company before, but what we like is that it hasn't intimidated them one bit. In fact, it seems to inspire them. That, in turn, shows us that they have an entrepreneurial vision that is not unlike the one that founded Aptera. They believe they can do it. And, at this point, it is pretty safe to say that we agree with them. So, you guessed it, Energetx Composites is supplying the production bodies, beginning with the 2e.

As a part of the agreement, we share our proprietary composite construction system with Energetx and they return to us completed Aptera bodies. Their first test is underway now as Energetx works to deliver our first production intent body in just a few short weeks. This new body will feature all of the structural and dimensional changes that we have told you about, and will marking the official beginning of our process development cycle.