The bankruptcy of subsidiary Atlas Technologies amounts to the bankruptcy of solar car maker Lightyear itself. That is what curator Reinoud van Oeijen says. According to him, not only do almost all employees of the Helmond company lose their jobs, the development of the mass model Lightyear 2 is also part of the estate, for which he will now look for a restart. In the coming days, he wants to talk to VDL, the owner of the Nedcar car factory in Born, among others.
“Even before the bankruptcy, the company has spoken with various parties about a collaboration. I also came across the name VDL. It is therefore obvious to start talking to VDL,” says Van Oeijen, who indicates that several interested parties have already takeover candidates. “What I’m going to do in the next few days is see how serious those interests are.”
There has been speculation for some time about a possible partnership between VDL and Lightyear. This is because Nedcar will be without a client next year. Having solar cars made in that factory in Limburg would therefore be an interesting idea. A spokesman for VDL indicates that the company never makes any statements about who is or is not being talked to.
Lightyear’s first car, the Lightyear 0, went into production at the end of November at a partner in Finland. In the end, only a handful rolled off the band, because the company suddenly stopped production of this expensive model earlier this week. This should allow the company to fully focus on the cheaper Lightyear 2, for which Lightyear said there was a lot of interest.
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However, Van Oeijen points out that the interest in Lightyear 2 was all still intentions. It hasn’t made any money yet. According to him, the immediate reason for the bankruptcy is that the company was no longer able to pay the salary of the staff. He wants to investigate how it came to this.
What the trustee also has to find out is to what extent Lightyear’s intellectual property rights also fall under the bankruptcy. The holding company and sister company Lightyear Layer, which makes solar panels in Venray, are not declared bankrupt.
For the time being, Van Oeijen has asked the staff to continue working as usual. “That is to maximize the chance of a restart.” They do not have to worry about their salary, because the payment thereof is now taken over by the UWV benefits agency.
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