Solar car startup Sono Motors, which recently rebranded as SonoSolar following insolvency, is auctioning off the remaining assets from its discontinued Sion programme. The sale, organised by the insolvency administrator, includes prototypes, components and tools from what was once billed as a pioneering solar electric vehicle project.
“While this marks a fresh chapter for us, another part of our story is coming to a close,” the company said in a statement. “The trustee responsible for the former Sion vehicle program has launched an auction for remaining assets, components, tools and prototypes of a pioneering solar EV project. These assets are no longer part of our operational scope, but we recognize the technical value and emotional resonance they hold for many in the community.”
SonoSolar said it aims to help publicise the sale. “We’d like to support the trustee’s efforts to find new homes for these pieces of innovation, whether by researchers, tinkerers, collectors, educators, or those continuing to work at the edge of sustainable mobility,” the statement added.
The online auction, running until 9 September at 10 a.m., lists 267 items, from small parts such as door side panels starting at €10 per lot, to wishbone suspensions with a €12 starting bid, and Sion electric motors from €50 each. The most notable items are ten Sion prototypes, offered from €600, in varying stages of completion — from near-production designs to camouflage-covered test vehicles and component mock-ups. According to the listing, “this compact electric car features solar cells integrated into the bodywork” using “self-developed, patented methods and technologies” that allowed Sono Motors GmbH to embed the cells seamlessly into the vehicle’s panels.
Prototypes cannot be driven and are intended for collectors, exhibitions or museums, the sale notice warns: “Prototype, no road approval, no documents.” Even missing parts are up for bid, including a lot of three rear bumpers starting at €12.
