Oklahoma leaders remain optimistic even after EV manufacturer Canoo, a company with plans to build a plant near Pryor in the northeastern part of the state, revealed major losses in the first quarter of this year.
Brent Kisling, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce expressed his thoughts this week following the dismal news from the Texas-based company.
“The Oklahoma Department of Commerce remains optimistic on Canoo’s ongoing progress in Oklahoma in light of today’s announcement. All state incentive offerings protect Oklahoma taxpayers by ensuring that they are performance based and result in a net economic benefit to the state. To date, no payments have been made to Canoo. “
Oklahoma pledged $15 million in incentives last year when Canoo announced its intentions to locate a new manufacturing plant at Pryor and another in Arkansas.
“We continue to see positive momentum in our automotive recruiting efforts and remain steadfast in our pursuit of jobs and economic prosperity for all Oklahomans,” added Kisling.
Canoo reported a $125 million net loss in the first three months of this year, a loss that one firm said left the company “stuck out in the woods.” Canoo’s own description in the quarterly report said “there is substantial doubt” whether it can get out of those woods.
“—as of the date of this announcement, we are reporting that there is substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” said the firm in its Q1 report.
Ground was already broken on the Pryor plant where Canoo initially vowed to hire 2,000 workers to build the new electric vehicles. The company was offered $15 million in incentives to locate in Oklahoma, a move taken by Gov. Kevin Stitt who said the money would come from the state’s Quick Action Closing Fund.
While Commerce Director Kisling is optimistic, some legislators aren’t.
KFOR News reported one of them is Rep. Forrest Bennett, D-Oklahoma City.
“If there had been more people at the table, I’m sure that concerns around this may have been discussed.
Another is Rep. Kevin West, a Republican from Moore.
“You certainly don’t want to have a lot of taxpayer dollars on the hook and IOU, so to speak, and have them not meet their expectations,” said West.
