Sono Motors

How it happened

Sono Motors, a German EV startup, developed the solar-paneled Sion car and IPO'd on Nasdaq in November 2021 at roughly a $1.5B valuation. Unable to raise enough funding to mass-produce the Sion, it killed the consumer car program in early 2023 to focus on solar technology for third parties. Its market cap fell well below $1B, about 90% off peak. Glassdoor reviews from its Munich workforce — largely warm about the culture and mission — returned again and again to the company's precarious finances and thin job security, and to young, inexperienced teams working without settled processes or a clear roadmap; some noted leadership was at least transparent about how tight the money was.

Employee accounts paraphrase anonymous, unverified reviews posted publicly on Glassdoor ↗. See our methodology.