2011 Think City
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UPDATES, April 11, 2012: Since this article was published on March 30, we've received the following updates: This morning, Mission Valley Ford received a truckload of 10 Think City vehicles from the Indiana factory, though most are already spoken for; Sales and service are only available in the San Jose area; Bob Garzee is working on the LA area, but other areas are not supported at this time; The San Jose price is now $22,300, not $22,500; Think is offering a three-year, 36,000-mile warranty; and Cars can potentially be shipped from the Indiana factory to other locations. In retrospect, it...
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2011 Think City Lives On, Still On Sale In Chicago Alongside BYD e6In June last year, Norwegian electric automaker Think filed for bankruptcy for the third time in its 20-year life. Since then, Think’s misfortunes have caused battery maker Ener1 to also declare bankruptcy while its own future is now in the automotive equivalent of limbo. In one small part of...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Electric-Car Battery Maker Ener1 Files For Bankruptcy, But Isn't Dead
Last week, lithium-ion battery specialists Ener1 made an official filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Another firm to take advantage of U.S. Department of Energy loans -- an estimated $55 million to date -- Ener1’s bankruptcy has already become the latest pawn in the (mainly Republican) battle...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Lithium-ion cell maker Ener1 Stock To Be Delisted After Think Collapse
Ener1 Inc., the battery firm charged with supplying battery packs to the ill-fated Think electric car company and parent company of EnerDel -- a $118.5 million U.S. Department of Energy loan guarantee recipient -- was officially delisted from the Nasdaq stock exchange yesterday after it failed to...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Want To Buy A 2011 Think City? You Can (If You Live In New York)
A few weeks back we nominated the diminutive Think City electric car as one of the five electric cars you’ll still be able to buy in five years’ time -- despite the roller-coaster fortunes of the firm which makes it. Arguing that the Think City had certain Blattodean qualities when it...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Bankrupt Norwegian Electric-Car Maker Think Gets Russian Owner
Well, it's official: After its fourth bankruptcy in two decades, the Norwegian electric-car maker Think Global has a new owner. As rumored last week, he's lumber baron Boris G. Zingarevich, of St. Petersburg. Zingarevich also happens to be the largest shareholder in Ener1, the lithium-ion cell...
John Voelcker -
It’s been bankrupt four times now, suffered delayed launches and even resorted to anthropomorphism to sell its excess stock, but now Norwegian electric car maker Think could be heading to Russia. Now with more twists than a badly subtitled daytime television Mexican telenovela, the story of Think’s purchase comes to us via Norwegian media outlet NA24. The online business newspaper claims that wealthy Russian businessman Boris Zingarevich has become the owner of what remains of the 20 year-old company. No stranger to electric cars, Zingarevich is indirectly a major shareholder in...
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Think Again: Bankrupt Electric Car Firm Heading To Turkey
If you’ve been following the fortunes of the Norwegian electric car company Think, you’ll know that it recently filed for bankruptcy, the fourth time in its 20 year history. But if you thought the firm would disappear without trace then you’re in for disappointment as a...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
Think Went Thunk: What Does Electric-Car Bankruptcy Teach Us?
A little more than three weeks ago, Norwegian electric-car maker Think Global declared bankruptcy--for the fourth time, actually. In a pithy piece published a week later, Pike Research analyst Dave Hurst suggested a few lessons that can be learned from Think's latest collapse. The entire article...
John Voelcker -
Think Thunk: Electric Car Maker Goes Bankrupt (Again)
Making an electric car is a particularly tough business, fraught with financial risk, engineering challenges and tough competition from small-scale and mainstream automakers alike. And in that world, some automakers will succeed in bringing electric cars to market, while others flounder at the...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
New Management, Structure, Cash For Electric-Car Maker Think?
Back in January, we toured the Think electric-car assembly facility in Elkhart, Indiana, "the RV capital of the world." We got some striking photos of hundreds of the City electric two-seater cars that Think was gearing up to sell, assembled in the U.S. out of kits shipped from the manufacturing...
John Voelcker -
Theory Meets Reality: How Expensive IS The 2011 Think City?
It’s well known that any sales material always uses the most attractive pricing option as a way of enticing customers to buy a product. But is it helpful, confusing or downright misleading for an electric automaker to advertise an electric car for sale at more than $17,500 less than its own...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
The 2011 Chevy Volt continues to outsell the 2011 Nissan Leaf, but during March, the Japanese battery electric car at last started to move noticeable numbers of cars--almost five times as many as it sold in February. The two major-manufacturer plug-ins currently on the market sold a total of 906 cars, split between 608 Volts and 298 Leafs. That's up on last month's sales of 281 and 67 respectively. That brings the cumulative totals to 471 Leafs and 1,536 Volts since the first Leaf was delivered last December, followed three days later by the first Volt. Meanwhile, small manufacturer Think, in...
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Can Think Really Sell Enough $41,000 City Electric Cars In U.S.?
Electric cars are much on the minds of green buyers these days, despite limited supplies of the 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt. But there's also a second tier of suppliers, beyond the major carmakers, that also offers or plans to offer buyers their own plug-in electric vehicles. One such...
John Voelcker -
Electric Car Factory: Think Sets Up Shop In Indiana, RV-Land
Quick, name the electric cars currently on sale. Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, and ... ummmm ... oh, yeah, Smart Electric Drive. Now name the ones built in the States. Hmmmm. Volt, right? Think about it Yes, but you've missed out on one--in both categories. It's the Think City, which is now being...
John Voelcker -
Photo Gallery: Think City Assembly Plant Tour, Elkhart, Indiana
During the Detroit Auto Show in January, we visited the Think electric-car assembly plant in Elkhart, Indiana. It's not necessarily a place you'd expect to find electric cars being put together, but the rows of electric two-seat hatchbacks in blue, red, and black turned out to be surprisingly...
John Voelcker -
Recall Alert: Gear Issues For North American THINK City
The THINK City hasn’t been having a good go of it lately during its short run in the North American market. As of the end of February, the THINK City has been recalled three times with the latest recall said to affect 23 City models. According to Detroit News, the automaker reported that it...
Jonathan McGrew -
2011 Think City Two-Seat Electric Car Faces Third Recall
Dozens, even hundreds, of different models get recalled each year by their makers to address defects or potential problems. Most pass unnoticed, except to the owners who get letters in the mail asking them to bring their vehicle back to the dealer. But three recalls in as many months isn't a...
John Voelcker -
Recall notices are now a standard part of the automotive landscape. Last year's recall of almost 10 million Toyota and Lexus models only highlighted the fact that most vehicles get called back to dealers for minor upgrades or inspections to fix or avert potential defects. Despite their much smaller number of complex moving parts, there's no reason electric cars should be exempt. And indeed, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has now issued its first recall notice for the 2011 Think City, the two-seater electric car assembled in Elkhart, Indiana. Reflecting Think's...
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Why Didn't We THINK Of It Before? EV Spawns Delivery Van
Car-derived vans are big business in Europe. Pick a subcompact at random and chances are there will be a light delivery van variant. Usually fitted with economical diesel engines, the small size and high economy suits small businesses down to the ground. Electric delivery vehicles have been...
Antony Ingram -
Life After Top Gear: “The Stig” Goes Electric, Joins EV Cup
What happens when the masked marvel of the highly popular and highly anti-electric car BBC Show Top Gear leaves? He starts racing electric cars, of course. Since his fiery departure from the prime-time entertainment show after he unveiled his identity, racing driver and stuntman Ben Collins has...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield -
2011 Think City Becomes 2+2 in Europe, Still Overpriced
We can’t think of many times when an automaker suddenly doubles the number of seats in a car without making the car bigger. But that’s just what the Norwegian car maker Think has done with its diminutive city car. Originally designed as a 2 seat city car, the all-electric A segment car...
Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield
