Canoo Electric Vehicles selects Oklahoma for plant

[jerrywall]

I can only recall Stitt pushing for one company to locate their HQ in Tulsa, and that was driven largely by an effort in Tulsa to recruit Tesla (which was never going to happen). I follow Stitt's daily feed on Facebook and get emailed releases, and he promotes and pumps OKC businesses and potential OKC businesses as much or more than Tulsa. He's just not OKC exclusive/focused like some Governor's have been. Like or dislike him on other stuff, I'm not sure if I buy this Tulsa vs OKC marketing criticism. It might be valid, but honestly we aren't aware of 95% of the "marketing" that goes on to businesses.

It should be noted Stitt just got back from a trip to Mexico where he was talking about a potential Consulate in OKC, and meeting with multiple Mexican business leaders about opening HQ's/offices in OKC/Oklahoma.

[Bunty]

I have always wondered why Oklahoma can never compete for major HQ relocations? What is it that makes Oklahoma so undesirable.? Just this week in DFW we landed a major international headquarters in Plano from Dublin, Ireland setting up their US HQ. A high tech company. Canoo sounds like a fly by night organization and I have my major doubts!! Oklahoma can do way better, however the question is "Does Oklahoma want to do better"?

I believed it has always had to do with Oklahoma having no nonstop international destinations from its airports and lack of support for education, especially state wide. Raising teacher pay took months and was like pulling hen's teeth. I doubt many well paying companies will want to move to Oklahoma, if they don't expect to find enough well qualified workers. Oklahoma is a great middle of the country location, but so is Texas.

Generally, at the rural county level, Oklahoma sure doesn't want to do better. If it means raising taxes or could end up raising taxes, they want nothing to do with helping to make the state better. Even though it didn't require raising taxes, nearly every rural county, 70 of them, rejected expanded Medicaid. Rural people want to be independent as much as possible from the government and are used to making do with less from the economic level. At least the two biggest urban areas are not as much that way as reflected by OKC's MAPS programs.

Oklahoma hasn't deserved as much for being a backward state since 2018 when alcohol and med marijuana reforms were put into effect..

[formerly405Tulsan]

I think it has less to do with being progressive (Arkansas is NOT progressive, by any means), and more to do with Oklahoma, at least at the very top, being less willing to market OKC vs Tulsa. Tulsa has its plusses, but they pale in comparison to OKC. Yet you only see the Governor calling for Tulsa to get in on these events. If a company sees that your top leader doesn't see the difference in the 2 cities, then why should they come here? Just my opinion. Sure, OKC has landed stuff under Stitt, but not with any help from him, either. But he is very vocal about getting Tulsa jobs.

No need to get into a pissing contest and list off who has what, but pales in comparison is a bit of a stretch.

[BG918]

It makes sense to focus economic development for a particular industry in one area to not dilute efforts. The state is focusing its EV developments in NE OK.

[king183]

https://www.theverge.com/2021/12/20/...ip-tony-aquila

Canoo with another major c-suite shake up. The computer seems to be having substantial “growing pains.”

[chssooner]

We can only hope the state hasn't given them any money yet. But given how happy our governor was for his part of the state to get this win, he probably front-loaded payments to them.

[BG918]

You have to think there is some connection to Wal-Mart. I see them getting off the ground with a partner like that. They want to begin producing in Arkansas in 2022 before they bring the Pryor plant online in 2023.

[T. Jamison]

However, all of the executives that have left over the last several years seem to have automotive industry experience. That is slightly concerning to me. Maybe they saw some writing on the walls?

[gopokes88]

Start-ups are risky. Most fail.

[shavethewhales]

I've definitely been losing hope for this to turn into anything. Too many big announcements, too many major people leaving, not enough to show for it all. It's weird how many different facilities have been announced all over the place. If they were just proposing the plant in Pryor and the HQ in Bentonville, it would make more sense, but they've made promises for thousands of jobs at this point and don't even have a product off the ground yet as far as I know. I'm not in tune with the EV industry and I know tech firms need to go big fast, but this is ridiculous.

[jerrywall]

https://insideevs.com/news/555763/ca...manufacturing/

[shawnw]

https://twitter.com/Ben_Geman/status...26109304958981

not sure if it means anything...

[Swake]

Canoo is doing some serious hiring in Tulsa.

https://careers-canoo.icims.com/jobs...81-12820-Tulsa

[jedicurt]

I guess that’s a good sign of movement. President Biden refuses to even acknowledge Tesla exists. I wonder if he’ll talk about this company.

looks like you spoke a few hours too late. lol. he actually did acknowledge Tesla, just did it a few hours before your post. lol not saying you should have known that, or that he shouldn't have done it sooner. but literally just read the article about 10 minutes ago myself and then saw your post. lol

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/08/bide...riticisms.html

[Plutonic Panda]

looks like you spoke a few hours too late. lol. he actually did acknowledge Tesla, just did it a few hours before your post. lol not saying you should have known that, or that he shouldn't have done it sooner. but literally just read the article about 10 minutes ago myself and then saw your post. lol

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/08/bide...riticisms.html

Better late than never!

[Plutonic Panda]

More good news!

https://tulsaworld.com/business/loca...b607308b2.html

[FighttheGoodFight]

More details on the Canoo contract with Oklahoma. $15 million incentive, the land and agree to purchase 1,000 of the vehicles.

https://www.readfrontier.org/stories...-closing-fund/

[David]

That's a surprisingly big purchase of EVs by the state, assuming they eventually ever exist to be purchased.

[gopokes88]

That's a surprisingly big purchase of EVs by the state, assuming they eventually ever exist to be purchased.

lol that was probably part of the bet. the incentives we offered amount to a 50/50 bet they survive. If they do survive, yeah sure we'll buy some.

[gopokes88]

https://seekingalpha.com/news/380768...-earnings-miss

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/canoo...214200685.html

[Plutonic Panda]

More less than exciting news: https://www.autonews.com/executives/...eXxQIvW-Zd7V40

[LocoAko]

Who could have foreseen this not exactly being a grand slam? (It seems almost everyone).

[chssooner]

Imagine if Oklahoma didn't try for Canoo. The people on here would be bashing them for not getting a company like this. Just amazes me, the hypocrisy.

[Plutonic Panda]

I’m happy we are trying for Canoo and I am still rooting for them to succeed. It can still be pulled off. Lots of Stitt haters in this state, I don’t the guy, seem to be blasting this on social media and almost hoping it fails. I am not on that train. But everyone knew that there are risks with this. Not sure why at every new development we need to have a “told you so” post when things go a little south.

[LocoAko]

I’m happy we are trying for Canoo and I am still rooting for them to succeed. It can still be pulled off. Lots of Stitt haters in this state, I don’t the guy, seem to be blasting this on social media and almost hoping it fails. I am not on that train. But everyone knew that there are risks with this. Not sure why at every new development we need to have a “told you so” post when things go a little south.

I'd love for them to succeed too and am hoping with a lot of the recent news that Oklahoma can become a hub of EV manufacturing (and usage?). I'm just saying that when this was first announced there was major bragging from Stitt/state leadership about what a big get this was while the terms of the deal were very mysterious and opaque, and many, many people pointed out that it was a risky investment in a company with a spotty track record. Now a lot of those concerns seem to be coming true in a very predictable manner. Obviously not every effort to lure a company is going to pay off big in the end, but I don't think it's crazy to challenge the Governor's (self-)promotional materials on this when things are rocky at best and it may not end up having been a great investment. Hopefully they can turn things around.