Niutron is refunding all the customers as the production stops

The founder of Niutron, Li Yinan, took to social media today and issued an apology to 24,376 buyers who put the deposits down for the company’s first electric SUV, the Niutron NV. The company promised to issue full refunds within 48 hours but did not give an explanation to why it is doing so.

Neutron NV was only unveiled in October and it was really well received, the company took over 24 thousand pre-orders and the vehicle was meant to be in the production now and heading soon for deliveries. Unfortunately that’s not the case anymore.

The company, in the open letter to its customers, quoted “its own reasons” for the vehicle’s production to be suspended and the vehicle no longer to be delivered in the near future. This is far from filing for protection or the company going bust though, there is something else at play here.

Neutron doesn’t have its own manufacturing facility, it has outsourced the entire production to its partner Dorcen Automobile. It seems the problem is right there at the manufacturing plant. China has very strict rules when it comes to New Energy startups - any company that wishes to manufacture an EV has to be approved together with its manufacturing facilities. After that, the company has a 24 months window to begin the production or its approval is revoked.

This seems to be the case here, Neutron has been delaying its vehicle since March of this year. Its official launch has been canceled and subsequent delays were blamed on the Covid pandemic. All that adds up to a lot of wasted time and unfortunately it seems the company will have to reapply for its verification status all over again.

Neutron NV was launched on October 8 with three versions available initially, two all-electric and one EREV. The standard range EV was priced at $39,900 and the long range version had a sticker price of $45,700 after the local subsidies were applied. The EREV version was priced at $41,400 at current exchange rates.

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