Here’s What Happened to Automotive Startup Companies in 2024

The past decade has seen myriad new would-be automakers emerge, many of them attempting to capitalize on the seeming simplicity of electric powertrains. Yet very few manage to succeed—for every Tesla, there are a handful of failed attempts such as Lordstown Motors, Coda, and Arrival.
While electric powertrains have fewer moving parts than internal-combustion engines, starting a car company and actually producing road-legal vehicles is an immensely challenging feat. We took a comprehensive look at the automotive market to review what happened with some of the most prominent automotive startups in 2024, from established automakers such as Rivian to pie-in-the-sky dreams such as Aptera.
Fisker
Fisker started delivering its electric Ocean SUV in the United States midway through 2023 and managed to get several thousand examples into the hands of customers before things went south in 2024. The first sign of trouble came in March when Fisker cut prices by up to $24,000, depending on the trim, in a bid to boost sales.
In June, Fisker recalled all 2023 Oceans for a software issue that could cause a loss of drive power. Just a few weeks later, the California-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. With 3231 unsold units, the remaining Oceans were purchased in bulk by American Lease, a New York-based firm that leases to ride-share users. Fisker’s downfall means we’ll never see the sleek Rōnin sports car, Alaska pickup truck, or affordable Pear crossover on the road, and the few Oceans that remain will become rare commodities in the coming years.
Radford Motors
Radford Motors stands out on this list for using internal-combustion engines instead of electrons, but—as with Fisker—the Radford Motors dream came to an end in 2024. The company was founded by a consortium led by Formula 1 champion Jenson Button and British TV presenter Ant Anstead. They planned to launch a slinky retro sports car based on the Lotus Exige called the Type 62-2. Production was to be limited to 62 units.
After just three years, Radford Motors filed for bankruptcy in October. While the company claims it’s attempting to gain more funding as part of its bankruptcy plan, it seems unlikely that customers will ever receive the Type 62-2. Anstead and the company’s CFO are facing lawsuits from business partners over missing or misused company funds, and clients who put down deposits have filed suits over cars that were never delivered and subsequent refunds that never went through.
Faraday Future
Seven years after revealing the FF 91 electric SUV at CES, Faraday Future delivered its first unit in August 2023. The company has continued delivering vehicles since, but it’s unclear if the owners are actually paying for the vehicles. The owners are referred to as “Developer Co-Creation Officers” and are all B-list celebrities—the latest is a model and social media influencer who received her car in December 2024. During Monterey Car Week, we did spot an FF 91 wearing a standard license plate instead of the typical manufacturer plate used for testing. The car seems to be real, at least, even if the deliveries are more of a promotional deal than a true sale.
Faraday Future is already preparing its next vehicle called Faraday X, FX for short. The first two prototypes will arrive in Los Angeles by the end of December, with testing taking place at the company’s factory in Hanford, California. Faraday Future claims the FX will feature “twice the performance at half the price”—the FF 91 supposedly costs at least $300,000. The prototypes will also appear in Las Vegas in January, coinciding with CES 2025.
Canoo
Canoo pivoted away from passenger cars such as the Lifestyle Vehicle first shown in 2019, instead focusing on commercial vans. Several examples of its Lifestyle Delivery Vehicle, a podlike van, have allegedly reached fleet customers over the past year, with the U.S. Postal Service adding six LDV190s for mail delivery in the Atlanta area. It’s unclear exactly how many LDVs have been built, and the bigger, boxier MPDV van shown in 2020 still hasn’t entered production.
Canoo also underwent significant changes this year, moving its headquarters from Torrance, California, to Justin, Texas. Right after the company’s move, one of Canoo’s founding members, chief technology officer Sohel Merchant, left the company. While Canoo has been able to assemble a handful of vehicles, its future is far from certain.
Aptera Motors
Aptera Motors has been around for ages. We first saw the three-wheeled Aptera 2e in 2009, but the company collapsed in 2011. A Chinese company bought the assets in 2012 and claimed it would get production underway, but things went quiet again by 2014. In 2019, Aptera was relaunched by its original founders and has been working to put its three-wheeler into production, raising money via crowdfunding.
Aptera claims that using solar panels across the vehicle’s aerodynamically efficient exterior means owners will rarely need to plug in their car to have enough juice for daily driving. The company plans to show its first production-intent Aptera vehicle at CES 2025 and hopes to start production later next year. We’re still skeptical about Aptera’s prospects, but we look forward to checking out the latest iteration of this unique EV in person next month.
VinFast
Vietnamese automaker VinFast launched its first car in the U.S., the VF8 electric SUV, in 2023. Despite a tepid response, VinFast plowed ahead and began sales of the larger VF9 three-row electric SUV in November, with prices starting at $71,000 and an EPA-estimated range of up to 330 miles.
At CES 2024, VinFast showed off a tiny EV called the VF3, with the boxy two-door set to eventually hit the U.S. market. A pickup concept called the VF Wild also debuted at the show but no production date was announced. Since U.S. sales of the VF9 are kicking off a full year after VinFast’s original planned start date, we don’t expect to see the VF3 or VF Wild anytime soon. It’s also unclear when VinFast aims to start selling the VF6 and VF7 crossovers—already available in Vietnam—in the U.S. market.
Rivian
Rivian, purveyors of electric luxury off-roaders, had a fairly strong 2024. In its third-quarter financial report, Rivian said that it expects to deliver between 50,000 and 52,000 vehicles in 2024, which would follow the delivery of 50,122 units in 2023. Rivian also delivered around 5000 electric vans to Amazon over the past four months.
The company prepped for the future too, releasing revised versions of its R1T and R1S this summer and revealing two small products, the R2 and R3, in the spring. The R2, due in 2026, is an SUV that will sit below the R1S and start at around $45,000, while the R3 is even smaller and will be Rivian’s entry point, with an expected starting price of $35K when it arrives in 2027. Rivian will have its work cut out for itself as it tries to launch a series of new vehicles. Still, it has established itself as a legitimate player in the increasingly crowded EV market.
Lucid Motors
Another California-based startup, Lucid also increased its foothold in the market in 2024. In its third-quarter financial report, Lucid said it expects to produce 9000 units in 2024, almost all consisting of the Air sedan, which has been on sale since the 2022 model year.
Lucid sales could take a big leap in the new year, with production of its new Gravity SUV kicking off before the end of 2024 and the first deliveries beginning early next year. Prices start at $96,550 for the Grand Touring that will be available initially, while the Touring model will join the lineup in late 2025 and bring the cost down to $81,550. The success of the Gravity will be crucial for Lucid’s future, which includes a mid-size crossover teased this year that could be called Earth.
Tesla
It almost feels odd calling Tesla a startup—the automaker has been selling cars in the U.S. for over 10 years now. Tesla delivered on a couple of big promises in 2024, releasing a comprehensively refreshed Model 3, which made its way onto Car and Driver’s 2025 10Best list. Tesla also now has a full year of Cybertruck sales under its belt after finally beginning production of the angular electric pickup in late 2023.
As is the Tesla way, the automaker also made several bold new promises this year. The Tesla Roadster still hasn’t materialized, but in February, CEO Elon Musk claimed Tesla would start deliveries of the EV supercar in 2025. He also said it would blast from zero to 60 mph in less than one second. We’ll see about that.
Tesla also revealed a robotaxi that Musk referred to as the Cybercab, featuring zero driving controls in its two-seat cabin. Musk claimed production of the robotaxi would start in 2026 with a price tag under $30,000 and also revealed an even more radical fully autonomous Robovan concept. Very few details exist about either self-driving vehicle, and it could be a few more years, if ever, before we see Tesla robotaxis roaming the streets.
Caleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.
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