Why did the much-publicised project of the Albanian tycoon Nazif Destani fail? From the signatures for constructing a factory in Greece to changing course to North Macedonia and... bankruptcy.
e.Go began as the "next big thing" in motoring. In 2015, when electrification was still in its infancy, the famous German professor of mechanical engineering (according to many, the "father" of professional electric micromobility vehicles), Günther Schuh, founded e.Go in Aachen.
The goal was to provide affordable, small, zero-emission vehicles for commuting in cities, and the company quickly accepted the first 1,200 pre-orders.
In fact, the Brazilian football superstar Neymar even promoted its first model.
What could possibly go wrong? Everything!
e.Go went from being a front-runner to a tail-ender and went bankrupt for the second time.
The company's story has it all: promises to build factories in Greece, collaborations with German metallurgy, powerful investors, entry into the American stock market, and finally, bankruptcy.
The promising automaker, which ultimately failed to produce cars, had gone bankrupt in 2020. Albanian businessman Nazif Destani, originally from Tetovo in North Macedonia but raised in Germany, stepped in as a "white knight" to save it.
Four years later, Destani, son of the tycoon Lazim Destani, realises that he can do little for e.Go, and so the Next e.Go Mobile, a subsidiary of the Dutch industrial giant ND Industrial, will go bankrupt again.
Will there be another "white knight" in Destani's place?
And, above all, will e.Go, and its cars be able to be produced?
The path to the cliff
Until a few years ago, the venture undertaken by the richest Albanian businessman in the world (as the Destani family advertises) seemed… destined to succeed—the micro e.Go Life model, which is only 3,348mm long, performed very well.
With 75 hp output, 171 km range on a single charge, acceleration from standstill to 100 km/h in 4.3 seconds, top speed of 122 km/h and price of 15,000 euros, this car was expected to explode in popularity across Europe.
However, established European and American automakers, and then Chinese ones, began to mass-produce electric city cars.
Nonetheless, e.Go's proposition was good, especially since the vehicles would be manufactured in the German city of Aachen and Greece. This plan was later changed (unreasonably) and became "factories in Aachen and North Macedonia."
Ultimately, however, it turned out to be too good to be true
The plan for a new model, creating micro-factories that would cover the demand and enter the market, had not been worked on and had not progressed at all. e.Go had sold around 1,400 cars and taken pre-orders for 11,000 more for its new model, the e.wave X, which was unveiled at the 2022 Paris International Motor Show.
However, some "small problems" emerged: The company had zero revenue and no liquidity, so its only factory, in Germany, with 320 workers, could not start production of the new model. But even if they had started it, they would not have been able to sell it, as it had never received approval to hit the streets.
Therefore, it begs the fair question of how e.Go got pre-orders for a model that is not (at least until further notice) allowed to be on the streets?
To solve the liquidity problem, Destani's Dutch-based company resorted to another solution after failing to find an investor—it entered the world's largest stock market a few months ago.
However, as it showed, its entry into the Nasdaq didn't achieve what was expected either. The company did an IPO proposing a price of around $10 per share, a venture that failed miserably.
The IPO was completed only when the stock price was set at around $2, but even that lasted only a short time. After a few days, it fell to $1. Today, it has collapsed to $0.068.
Since December, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has given the company a 180-day deadline to correct the share price, warning that if it remains below $1, it will be deleted from the index.
This might not be necessary since the company is close to bankruptcy…
Let's look back to the good years
In December 2020, Next.e.GO Mobile SE signed the "Letter of Intent for Cooperation" with Enterprise Greece. This signing, which took place in the presence of the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, laid the foundations for implementing the project.
The company pledged to set up a production plant on Greek soil, creating 1,000 jobs, and Greece - with a commitment from the prime minister himself - would help the project since e.Go was looking for financiers.
The CEO of the company, Dr Ulrich Hermann, speaking to New Money, said at the time: "We want to create an identical factory to the one we have today in Aachen. Like everything around the company and its products, a factory is interconnected through our digital platform. In addition, however, with the help of the Greek government, we want to shape those conditions so that the whole ecosystem surrounding the support of our factory can develop in Greece."
But maybe Destani was waiting for the government to open the coffers and give him money or access to European funds to start building the factory and production.
For example, the Greek side was waiting for the Dutch company to complete the legal and formal procedures—a proposal for inclusion in the strategic investments in Greece. This never happened, and then, in September 2022, it was announced that the company would create a new factory in Tetovo, North Macedonia—the place of origin of the Destani family.
Of course, that never happened either...
And now?
The Destani family founded Ecolog International in 1999 when Lazim Destani, an immigrant to Germany and owner of a travel agency, thought of becoming the first to provide laundry services to German soldiers operating in Kosovo with the NATO mission.
It succeeded very quickly and rapidly grew into a multi-national behemoth headquartered in Dubai, providing a wide range of services to governments, commercial entities and non-profit organisations in more than 30 countries across the globe.
Lazim's son, Nazif Destani, founded ND Industrial (inputting his initials) in the Netherlands. He is active in industrial sectors such as energy, construction, facilities management, and environment.
He has strong connections in the Netherlands and Germany and is often photographed with the Queen of the Netherlands or government officials. Today, he uses Ecolog's charm on the IG Metal syndicate to seek an investor.
This is because the company announced "its decision to file an application for the initiation of insolvency proceedings at the competent regional court of Aachen (Amtsgericht Aachen). e.GO is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nasdaq-listed Next.e.GO NV.
"The decision to file for bankruptcy proceedings comes in an environment of recent adverse developments and challenges in the electric vehicle industry and volatility in the capital markets, exacerbated by the recent situation surrounding other electric vehicle industry players."
"In addition, given the adverse market environment, the equity-based financing instruments secured by the company have not been able to perform at the expected level and pace. Despite the company's significant efforts, the prevailing market conditions and uncertainty in the EV sector further significantly hindered the company's ability to secure alternative financing as required by the local regulatory framework.
"In light of these circumstances, the managing directors of e.GO has made the difficult decision to initiate insolvency proceedings to ensure compliance with the local regulatory framework."
Giorgos Karagiannis is a columnist for News Auto. Translated by Paul Antonopoulos.
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