BAD NEWS

[Butch]

Here in the center of the universe... I have heard tech folks dismiss Alta battery technology as no big deal. I have opinions, one being... some Alta stuff is unique, but not the hardware.

But hey, Ford is gonna buy Alta. So there.

 

[Philip]

It certainly looks like the potential buyers back out because they think they can make a similar bike themselves. The battery tech is similar to Tesla's. I googled for Faster Faster patents and found just one for a heat shield to prevent the thermal runaway. I wonder which shield that would be.

If Ford buys Alta, I might then buy a Mustang.

 

[Josh402]

It certainly looks like the potential buyers back out because they think they can make a similar bike themselves. The battery tech is similar to Tesla's. I googled for Faster Faster patents and found just one for a heat shield to prevent the thermal runaway. I wonder which shield that would be.

If Ford buys Alta, I might then buy a Mustang.

That would be cool, since I already own one

 

[TCMB371]

I'm not believing any more rumors until an official announcement is made...

 

[Rix]

I'm not believing any more rumors until an official announcement is made...

Not me man, I am getting my hopes up as high as possible, of course the disappointment sucks.

 

[Rix]

Then you can sign up here:
Chain Sliders and Alta parts, dealer only?

Will do.

 

[Butch]

I just made up the Ford thing, obviously...

 

[Rocketz152]

Just a random thought but, do we know how many altas were actually sold? I was guessing 1300 from media articles... I’m just still analyzing why the company would suddenly stop since they just got the ball rolling with new products that people actually want (first competitive bike being the mxr). If Alta was to release that street bike prototype ( name slips my mind at the moment but it looked like a cafe racer) and had a way of financing the product other than us going to the bank (ex. Honda financial for Honda products) I feel the company would be selling a lot more bikes... everyone that I have let try my bike is blown away at how it is... literally 2 people I know were seriously considering going to the dealership to pick one up... it feels like Alta gave up too soon when they were about to explode on the scene and people would be lining up to buy one...

I know for me when I was considering an Alta the mx was too expensive with not enough power... I told myself, if they get the price down and the power up I’d buy one... then here comes the mxr with a lower price and more power... and I bought one lol... I hear from everyone I know the same story... they wanted the price to come down a little bit more (hard to pay 11,000 + for the bike and an additional 800 for the charger) when you can buy any bike on the market for 10,000. Just thinking out loud since the news from Alta...

 

[Scott]

(hard to pay 11,000 + for the bike and an additional 800 for the charger)

I heard that from people too...that they were to expensive. But I would counter with the fact that there is no cost to keep it running other than electricity. How much is spent to keep an ICE bike running? Pistons, valves, crank shafts, timing chains, clutch plates, air filters, oil, oil filters, clutch levers. Not to mention the time you spend doing all the maintenance. I have said this before in the forum but it is so overlooked by the naysayers.

 

[Philip]

Actually, Alta should have never reduced the prices from the old $15K. They wouldn't have grown as much and as fast, but they would have still been in business, growing slowly.

Fast growth is what kills many young startups. The expenses are growing faster than the incomes. You need to have cash to get through this phase, and Alta ran out of it.

 

[Philip]

I am wondering why Alta never considered going public...

Perhaps the money ran out much too quickly, so there was no time for that option.

 

[Rocketz152]

T

I heard that from people too...that they were to expensive. But I would counter with the fact that there is no cost to keep it running other than electricity. How much is spent to keep an ICE bike running? Pistons, valves, crank shafts, timing chains, clutch plates, air filters, oil, oil filters, clutch levers. Not to mention the time you spend doing all the maintenance. I have said this before in the forum but it is so overlooked by the naysayers.

That arguement only goes so far when I had a warranty issue right off the bat and the battery had to be replaced... and you can technically go at least 3 years (ride seasons) without doing major maintenance other than oil and air filters on an ice bike... as far as Alta not dropping the price... they might still be around if they did that... but I wouldn’t have bought one and would still have my 18’ Honda 450... obviously the decisions the company made were not the right ones since they’re probably heading to bankruptcy or completely shutting down... I may be wrong but I feel if the leadership of Alta was serious about keeping the company alive they would figure it out... either downsize the company significantly, do more crowdfunding, or file bankruptcy to restructure the company... it just feels like they’re giving up since no other company will purchase them...

 

[Rocketz152]

 

[Routybouty]

Maybe Elon could just inject some cash to keep it going! A few 10s of million is no big deal to him obviously as he paid Tesla's fine out of courtesy. It would help his main mission and replacing low regulated ICE bikes is probably reasonably effective at that.

 

[Johnny Depp]

If you were an investor, what would your business model be in buying Alta? Would it make more sense than doing your own startup?

I see any investor needing lower costs, better volume capacity, and a continual stream of improvements.

I would get out of Cali 1st, and that means a new HQ. I'd also need to double the production capacity at minimum. The improvements may be the easiest part, since this owners forum has already identified items in need of attention.

I'd suggest the important propietary "secrets" are the frame, the battery casing, motor and gearbox and the controllers. The rest is bolt on stuff. The advantage is the ability to move quickly into a HOT market without years of development time to a platform that has an immense buzz about it. Keeping the ball rolling allows the speed to market that will allow a buyer to capture not only the early adopters but the multitude of riders that intended to go with Alta on their next purchase after the incredible demo tour and testimonials from real owners.

What is it worth? That must be the question. What are the patents? Imagine this company on Shark Tank, they would never get a Shark. If someone took the company public, it might generate enough buzz that it could float stock prices even though it will take years to actually show a profit. I think that is the most likely solution.

If you sold 2000 units a year at $2500 gross profit, That's 5 million. Overhead, marketing and non production payroll will eat up a lot of that. This thing will not be a money machine out of the box, it will take a longer view to grow it, and after a few years the competition will likely catch up and be fierce.

Demo tours and dealer development teams, race programs, press launches, are expensive to establish a brand, and it's a shame that the hard part was done and apparently the production couldn't keep up with the orders. I'd assume that with the HD $ and the investors like Bob Fox, they believed there was enough cash to do it all, and somehow when it came time to pay suppliers for additional inventories like batteries, there just wasn't enough left?

 

[Philip]

If you sold 2000 units a year at $2500 gross profit, That's 5 million. Overhead, marketing and non production payroll will eat up a lot of that. This thing will not be a money machine out of the box, it will take a longer view to grow it, and after a few years the competition will likely catch up and be fierce.

$5M / 100 employees = $50K annual salary per employee.

They definitely need to get out of Cali, increase their sales and margins.

All the expensive and time consuming R&D and brand building has already been done. They either need to be bought out (for cheap) or go expand their production and sales in China. They need a good turnaround manager.

 

[Rix]

$5M / 100 employees = $50K annual salary per employee.

They definitely need to get out of Cali, increase their sales and margins.

All the expensive and time consuming R&D and brand building has already been done. They either need to be bought out (for cheap) or go expand their production and sales in China. They need a good turnaround manager.

They should move operations over to USA Parkway outside of Sparks NV. Just down the road from the Gigafactory. The overhead saving alone would be way way way cheaper than around the bay area.

 

[Philip]

Make the frame from carbon fiber and outsource the manufacturing to Africa!

 

[Rix]

Make the frame from carbon fiber and outsource the manufacturing to Africa!

That would do it.

 

[bluefxstc]

Low income is $117k in San Fran. I doubt any employee at Alta was only making $50k. Good start at making money would be to move out of the bay area. You may need to keep R&D there, but not manufacturing.