Electra Meccanica takes on Tesla with a three-wheeler solo microcar

Electra Meccanica Vehicles Corp (NASDAQ:SOLO) is bringing a three-wheeler microcar to the streets of Los Angeles, which checks all the boxes for Millennials. It is all-electric like a Tesla, but way more affordable.

The compact three-wheeler, dubbed ‘solo’, is an electric one-seater vehicle that costs $15,000, and it is forecast to take over the West Coast.

READ: Electrameccanica revs up to beat Tesla in the US

The compact Solo, a one-seater vehicle made by Candian car maker Electra Meccanica costs $15,500. By December, 5,000 will be zipping around the streets of Los Angeles, with an additional 70,000 to be delivered over the next two years across the West Coast, reported Bloomberg.

“Electra Meccanica may have a market value of just $140 million, yet it has $2.4 billion in pre-orders,” reported the news agency.

Not surprisingly, shares in Electra Meccanica shot up 36.7% to $5.92 in premarket trade Thursday.

There is some chatter about Electra Meccanica being in talks to manufacture at General Motors Co’s (NYSE:GM) doomed Oshawa plant, Ontario plant, which is set to close this year and put 3,000 people out of work.

“We have had some discussions around that,” Electra Meccanica CEO Jerry Kroll told Bloomberg, adding no decision has been made. “Nothing would make me happier than to rehire all of those people, with a Canadian-designed, engineered vehicle in Canada.”

Congestion and the high cost of cars may have cooled the romance between Americans and their cars, especially for Millennials. But Electra Meccanica may have an answer.

“Tesla is doing a good job on building big cars — conventional cars that are electric,” says Kroll. “This company is producing the car that Elon Musk wishes he were building,” Kroll said in a separate interview with Bloomberg Television. “It is great to produce a $45,000, a $100,000 car or a $250,000 car. But for the masses? A $15,000 car that can get them to stop using gas. That’s creative.”

Contact Uttara Choudhury at [email protected]

Follow her on Twitter: @UttaraProactive 

Story by ProactiveInvestors