Trevor Milton, founder and CEO of startup Nikola, is stepping down voluntarily after being accused of deception in a report by a shareholder. The company is now being taken over by the former vice president of General Motors.
Milton leaves voluntarily after a lot of commotion has arisen around Nikola. He has been accused of painting a false picture of the technology that his company actually has, in order to forge costly partnerships with larger parties. Milton himself neither denies nor confirms the allegations. He says he is quitting because he thinks that the attention has been focused too much on him in recent times instead of on Nikola. “The focus should be on the company and its world-changing vision, not me,” Milton said in a statement. “So I made the difficult decision to go to the board of directors and voluntarily step down as chairman.” Stephen Girsky, former vice president at General Motors, takes over from Milton.
The ball started rolling after Nikola announced a collaboration with General Motors at the beginning of this month. The company previously worked with Iveco. Shareholder Hindenburg Research did not fully trust Nikola and went to investigate Nikola further. According to Hindenburg, the reputation of the EV startup is based entirely on lies and the company does not have the knowledge to show off. Nikola has always denied these allegations and says she has been subject to extensive due diligence by the companies it works with. Hindenburg’s report is therefore labeled by Nikola as ‘incorrect and defamatory’. Nikola’s shares have now fallen in value by more than 29 percent in the aftermath of the changing of the guard.
Nikola currently has several projects in the pipeline. The collaboration with General Motors should eventually lead to the construction of an electric pick-up, the Badger. The start-up wants to build an electric truck with Iveco. Nikola is betting on two horses, because in addition to developing battery-powered vehicles, the company is also committed to the further development of the fuel cell. Until now it has remained with these ambitions, because Nikola has not yet shown any concrete production models.