Photo: MMM
Whenever people see CGI images of a vehicle with wild claims, the result is pretty predictable. Most websites publish the pictures and the claims as if they were a sure thing. That’s pretty much what happened to dozens of companies that ended up being just vaporware. To be credible, companies should present a lot more: a prototype, solid investors, proven or impressive technology. Very few follow this path, such as Rivian and Lucid. The latest example of what not to do is (MMM) Mean Metal Motors and its hypercar, the Azani.
In our article about it, we warned that MMM is announcing plans at least since 2015 when it presented the M-Zero. Sarthak Paul, the company’s CEO, wrote in his blog that he admired Elon Musk but that MMM was coming after Tesla. His team would have “the ability to create just the most brilliant piece of engineered car in the world.”
When you check the company’s page, below Azani’s name, a big white button invites people to invest in the company. On MMM’s Facebook page, a post from August 5 redirects visitors to a Fundable page. There, the company says it is trying to raise $6 million and mentions a few partners, such as NVIDIA, Yasa (for electric motors), and Sick (for LiDARs). They could as well be just suppliers.
The plans are to produce an electric hypercar with innovative manufacturing methods and exclusive technology that MMM fails to describe in more detail. It only says it will be suited for micro-factories – whatever they are. Its platform would be an intriguing mix of a monocoque with a spaceframe. MMM also claims to work with “modules of AI (artificial intelligence).
In another post published on Facebook on May 23, MMM said it is building a prototype, which it intends to present in 2022. On May 2, it posted a pretty candid text admitting it failed in 2019 and 2020 to reveal the M-Zero.
We have sent the company eight questions about its technology, plans, and investors but received no answer after four days. The goal was to understand what makes MMM so unique and capable of delivering a car with the specs that the Azani has. If people are to invest in that, they should understand what MMM has to offer and what it is proposing. The CGIs alone should not do the trick.
It is clear MMM is made by people with a dream. Only that would explain their insistence on the project since 2015. They are also willing to put their faces on the company’s website to state they are for real. That’s more than many companies showing CGIs around are eager to offer.
The issue is that dreams that do not have a clear path to turn into reality simply don’t. The only exceptions happen when dreamers have deep pockets to keep them going. Investors dream of making money, and consumers dream of buying genuine products, preferably from companies that will actually deliver them. That is what MMM has to prove to both groups. Answering our questions would be an excellent starting point.
When you check the company’s page, below Azani’s name, a big white button invites people to invest in the company. On MMM’s Facebook page, a post from August 5 redirects visitors to a Fundable page. There, the company says it is trying to raise $6 million and mentions a few partners, such as NVIDIA, Yasa (for electric motors), and Sick (for LiDARs). They could as well be just suppliers.
The plans are to produce an electric hypercar with innovative manufacturing methods and exclusive technology that MMM fails to describe in more detail. It only says it will be suited for micro-factories – whatever they are. Its platform would be an intriguing mix of a monocoque with a spaceframe. MMM also claims to work with “modules of AI (artificial intelligence).
In another post published on Facebook on May 23, MMM said it is building a prototype, which it intends to present in 2022. On May 2, it posted a pretty candid text admitting it failed in 2019 and 2020 to reveal the M-Zero.
We have sent the company eight questions about its technology, plans, and investors but received no answer after four days. The goal was to understand what makes MMM so unique and capable of delivering a car with the specs that the Azani has. If people are to invest in that, they should understand what MMM has to offer and what it is proposing. The CGIs alone should not do the trick.
It is clear MMM is made by people with a dream. Only that would explain their insistence on the project since 2015. They are also willing to put their faces on the company’s website to state they are for real. That’s more than many companies showing CGIs around are eager to offer.
The issue is that dreams that do not have a clear path to turn into reality simply don’t. The only exceptions happen when dreamers have deep pockets to keep them going. Investors dream of making money, and consumers dream of buying genuine products, preferably from companies that will actually deliver them. That is what MMM has to prove to both groups. Answering our questions would be an excellent starting point.
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