Aptera Still Wants You To Believe It’ll Eventually Make A Car After Nearly 20 Years Of Not Making Cars

Building cars is hard, and the margins are small, so if you want to get into the car business, you’d better show up with a ton of cash and be prepared not to make any money for a long time, if ever. And yet, people still try. It’s great that they still try, too, but that doesn’t mean the deck isn’t stacked against them, even if they want to sell something awesome, such as the Telo MT1. Which is why I’m happy to report that Aptera still exists, and it even has a drivable prototype that it let YouTuber Marques Brownlee take out on public roads. Who would have guessed?

Will the three-wheeled Aptera actually make it to production? Probably not. Will it sell well if it ever does somehow make it into production? Probably not. Is the continued development of the autocycle a smart use of anyone’s money? Probably not. But on the other hand, it isn’t my money being wasted on an idea that’s unlikely to ever take off. And if a couple of wealthy people want to keep giving money to a startup that’s been around since 2006 and still hasn’t made a car, why should I stop them? Sure, it’s probably a sign they don’t pay enough in taxes, but there are worse ways they could spend it. 

And who’s to say the Aptera won’t happen? I can’t see the future. If I could, I’d be way better at predicting auction results. For all we know, unlike past three-wheelers such as the Dale and the Elio, a production Aptera could be just around the corner. Heck, if it happens next year, the start date would line up perfectly with the 20th anniversary of the company’s founding! A mere two decades to produce a single car.

So, Aptera has a drivable prototype. And someone actually drove it. Is it any good? Well, that probably depends on your expectations going in. If you’re looking for a highly refined autocycle with fit and finish that’s at least on par with a Honda Civic, you’ll probably be disappointed. The split side windows look terrible, the seats don’t look particularly comfortable, and the infotainment system appears to be functional at best. That said, it does look less rickety and cobbled together than I initially expected from a company that’s spent 20 years not building any cars.

I do have to say, though, the design does still stand out on the road, even if the overall shape is old enough to be in college at this point. If it ever did go into production, they’d probably sell at least a few hundred of them based on that alone. It’s weird, but the cool kind of weird that a few well-off suburban commuters might buying as a third car or something. I mean, how many people still work in Silicon Valley and are tired of seeing Tesla after Tesla? 

Beyond that uniqueness, though, I’m not sure who this car appeals to, especially since the footwells appear to be pretty cramped. Maybe that will change in the production version that’s totally coming “soon,” but will it? They’ll have to build a production version first for us to find out, and that’s definitely not happening any time soon. On the other hand, according to Brownlee, it isn’t terrible to drive. So there is that.

Look, while I’m admittedly super-skeptical, maybe Aptera will prove me wrong. Heck, maybe they’ll even let me drive the prototype, and it will completely change my mind. It isn’t probable, but it’s possible.