Electric vehicle startup ElectraMeccanica will end production of its single-seat Solo model and buy back all the existing vehicles at full price, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week.
The Canada-based automaker was forced to recall the 429 Solos it has sold in the U.S. since 2019 due to an unexplained power failure issue, Automotive News reported.
The Solo was originally built in China, but the company opened a new manufacturing facility in Mesa, Arizona, last year.
The $18,500 vehicle, which has a 100-mile driving range, falls under "autocycle" regulations in most states and doesn't need to meet federal automobile safety requirements, although it was designed with crumple zones and other features meant to protect the passenger in a crash.
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The use of a helmet is required by law to operate it in some states.
ElectraMeccanica wrote in a form 10-K that it was abandoning the project due to several market challenges.
"The network of traditional institutions that support vehicle ownership is not established for three-wheeled autocycles," the company said.
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"Creating our own support ecosystem around just the initial SOLO three-wheeled models would be prohibitively expensive and time consuming. It also does not align with our goal of expanding the market for everyday EVs."
It will now focus on the development of a four-wheel vehicle with "broader marketability" that will seat two passengers and offer "further advanced safety features."
A timeline for the introduction of the new model was not announced.
