What was set to be one of Nikola Motors biggest days in its short history,, the company has delayed the event that was meant to officially unveil their electric Badger pickup truck.
Originally set to take place in-person on December 3 to 5, Nikola World 2020 has been postponed indefinitely, the embattled company announced Wednesday. Customers who had planned to attend to the event can continue to hold their tickets, or get a refund. A new date was not announced.
“Due to COVID-19 audience size restrictions at Arizona’s major venues, we have made the decision to reschedule an in-person Nikola World until we can bring the Nikola community together safely. Any tickets related to Nikola World will be refunded or held, based on the customer’s preference. We will continue to provide progress updates across our entire product portfolio.”
News of the delay comes just one day after their strategic partner in the Badger project, General Motors, said it was pushing back the closing of its deal as it reevaluated its options.
In the same press release, Nikola Motors provided an update on its battery powered Nikola Tre semi truck. The company said it expects the first five prototypes to be “substantially completed” in the coming weeks at their joint venture facility in Ulm, Germany.
This is in direct contrast to claims made by Nikola founder and ex-executive chairman Trevor Milton in a July 2020 podcast the trucks were almost ready.
“We have five of them coming off the assembly line right now in Ulm Germany,” said Milton.
The world has been slowly unravelling for Nikola Motors after a report by Hindenburg Research said the company was an “intricate fraud” and held no proprietary technology. Those claims, among others, eventually led to Milton stepping down from his role of executive chairman.
Nikola shares (NKLA) rose more than 3% in early morning trading after the news was released.
