Canoo, a high-tech advanced mobility company, announced the company’s official launch into the United Kingdom (UK) market by establishing Canoo Technologies UK Limited, a new legal entity, marking a significant milestone in the company’s global expansion strategy.
The company has selected Bicester Motion, an iconic automotive campus, as a key location that reflects the company’s spirit of innovation and commitment to sustainability.
This decision and location, being a former WWII Royal Air Force base, underscores the long-standing partnership between the United States and the United Kingdom, a relationship built on shared values, economic collaboration, and mutual trust.
Through this partnership, the firm continues to strengthen its presence in the UK market while driving forward its mission of delivering sustainable mobility solutions globally.
This move signifies a pivotal step in Canoo’s global expansion, setting the stage for the company to introduce groundbreaking commercial electric vehicle (EV) solutions to the UK.
Bicester Motion will serve as Canoo’s future operations, customer, and activation center, providing a dynamic base for its commercial efforts across Europe.
The space plans to open in October.
The UK is a global pioneer and leader in EV adoption with one of the most ambitious regulatory frameworks in the world.
Under its Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate, 80% of new vehicles and 70% of new vans sold must be zero-emission by 2030, increasing to 100% by 2035.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), earlier this year the UK saw 17 consecutive months of growth in the LCV market.
The small van market has been particularly strong in 2024, with demand up 42.0% year-to-date.
“Six months ago, we debuted our right-hand drive vehicle, the USPS’ LDV 190 and also our LDV 130, and hosted and attended numerous fleet shows and customer test drives on tracks to establish ourselves as an American partner in the region,” says Tony Aquila, Investor, Executive Chairman, and CEO of Canoo.
He continues: “The UK activation center at Bicester Motion will allow us to leverage the local expertise while strengthening our commercial operations in this high-potential market that provides incentives including the plug-in van grant (PIVG) to help the growing demand and reach the government’s zero-emissions goals. We look forward to sharing more in the near future.”
Aquila has achieved remarkable success in the UK market, including his leadership at his previous company Solera, an automotive software company, which he founded, and CAP-HPI which Solera acquired.
Over his career, Tony has had a history of successful operations in the UK which include acquiring various businesses, creating hundreds of new jobs, and generating over one hundred million dollars of annualized revenue.
The company will take a customer-centric approach to entering the UK market focusing on configuration to meet the diverse and immediate needs of its commercial and government fleet customers.
Canoo’s strategy will include pilots followed by rollout of vehicles, and the company will work directly with customers to create solutions that meet their specific demands.
The firm selected Bicester Motion for their Activation Center due to the location’s rich history in automotive innovation, making it an ideal hub for showcasing their cutting-edge EVs and connecting with a community of more than 50 automotive brands.
Canoo’s activation center will serve as an environment for customers to experience and test drive Canoo’s right-hand drive commercial vans.
“We relish the opportunity to welcome like-minded technology pioneers to the UK to join our drive to positively shape the future of mobility,” states Daniel Geoghegan, CEO of Bicester Motion.
“Over the last decade we have built a world-leading community for disruptive mobility leaders, manufacturers, innovators and change-makers who have a shared passion to deliver the mobility solutions we need for the future. It is clear that Canoo shares our vision, and we are pleased to provide them with a dedicated center-of-excellence from which they can launch their UK operation and to establish another international marque at Bicester Motion,” he adds.
About Canoo
Founded in 2017, Canoo is an automotive tech company that manufactures electric cargo vehicles, built to deliver, for large commercial, government and fleet customers globally.
The company has developed design-forward innovative electric vehicles with steer-by-wire technology on its common modular platform with end-to-end software plus power solutions.
Canoo’s platform is purpose-built to maximize the vehicle interior space and is customizable to support a wide range of business and government applications.
Headquartered in Justin, Texas, the company has teams located in California, Michigan and Oklahoma with world-class vehicle and battery facilities in Oklahoma City.
