Item 1A. Risk Factors
LiveWire Group, Inc. is subject to risks and uncertainties, including those discussed below. Discussions of our business and operations included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K should be read together with the risk factors set forth below. Some of these risks and uncertainties, including those described below, may cause our business, financial condition and results of operations to vary, and they may materially or adversely affect our financial performance. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Other risks and uncertainties, which are not currently known to us or which we currently believe are immaterial, may also materially or adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. References to “electric vehicles” throughout this Risk Factors section refer to both electric motorcycles and electric balance bikes.
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Summary of Risk Factors
Our business is subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including risks that may prevent us from achieving our business objectives or may adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, strategies or prospects. An investment in LiveWire involves risks, including those discussed below. These risk factors should be considered carefully before deciding whether to invest in the Company.
•We are an early-stage company with a history of losses and expect to incur significant expenses and continuing losses for several years. We have yet to achieve positive operating cash flow and, given our projected funding needs, our ability to generate positive cash flow is uncertain.
•Our research and development efforts may not yield the expected results, or results on expected timelines or at expected costs.
•Increases in costs, disruption of supply, or shortage of materials and components necessary for our electric vehicles, could materially and negatively affect our business.
•Our limited operating history makes evaluating our business and future prospects difficult.
•We may be unable to develop and produce electric vehicles of sufficient quality, on a schedule and at scale, that would appeal to a large customer base.
•The electric vehicle sector is growing and our products and services are and will be subject to competition from competitors.
•Our business and prospects depend significantly on our ability to build the LiveWire brand and consumers’ recognition, acceptance and adoption of the LiveWire brand. We may not succeed in continuing to maintain and strengthen the LiveWire brand.
•We have an established standard of quality and associated consumer expectations through our H-D motorcycle lineage. If we are unable to continue providing quality services and customer service, our business and reputation may be materially and adversely affected.
•Our relationship with H-D presents potential opportunities, synergies and risks. Our brand and reputation could be materially and negatively affected through negative publicity regarding H-D and its products and services.
•We may experience operational and financial risks if we fail to effectively and appropriately separate the LiveWire business from the H-D business.
•H-D could make decisions for the benefit of its overall business that could negatively impact our overall business.
•Our relationship with H-D may impact our other business relationships or potential business relationships.
•Leveraging contract manufacturers, including H-D, KYMCO and other potential partners, to contract manufacture electric vehicles is subject to risks.
•If retail partners are unwilling to participate in our go-to-market business model or are unable or ineffective in establishing or maintaining relationships with customers for electric vehicles, it may adversely impact our business.
•If we are unable to establish and maintain confidence in our long-term business prospects among customers and analysts and within our industry, or are subject to negative publicity, then our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results may suffer materially.
•We, our service providers, and our suppliers are subject to numerous regulations. Unfavorable changes to, or failure by us, our service providers or our suppliers to comply with these regulations could materially and negatively affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
•Electric vehicles are inherently new products. We may experience significant delays in the design, production and launch of our electric vehicles, which could materially and negatively affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
•Our business may suffer if our products or features contain defects or fail to perform as expected. We may choose to or be compelled to undertake product recalls or take other similar actions, which could adversely affect our brand image, business and operating results.
•We depend on suppliers, including critical and single sourced suppliers, to deliver components according to schedules, prices, quality and volumes that are acceptable to us. We may be unable to effectively manage these suppliers. Uncertainties in the global economy may negatively impact suppliers and other business partners, which may interrupt the supply chain and require other changes to operations. These and other factors may adversely impact revenues and operating income.
•The success of our business depends on the availability of power and charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. Limitations on that infrastructure may negatively impact our business.
•We may face challenges in expanding our business and operations internationally and our ability to conduct business in international markets may be adversely affected by legal, regulatory, political and economic risks.
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Risks Related to Our Business
We are an early-stage company with a history of losses and expect to incur significant expenses and continuing losses for several years. We have yet to achieve positive operating cash flow and, given our projected funding needs, our ability to generate positive cash flow is uncertain.
We have incurred net losses since our inception, including net losses of $93,925 thousand, $109,550 thousand and $78,938 thousand for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022, respectively. We believe that we will continue to incur operating and net losses in the future until at least the time we begin significant deliveries of our electric vehicles which may occur later than we expect or not at all. We do not expect to be profitable for the foreseeable future as we invest in our business, build capacity and ramp-up operations, and we cannot assure you that we will ever achieve or be able to maintain profitability in the future. Even if we are able to successfully develop our electric vehicles and attract customers, there can be no assurance that we will be financially successful. For example, as we expand our electric vehicle portfolio, including the introduction of lower-priced electric motorcycles, and expand internationally, we will need to manage costs effectively to sell those products at our expected margins. Failure to become profitable could materially and adversely affect the value of our Common Stock. If we are ever to achieve profitability, it will be dependent upon the successful development and commercial introduction and acceptance of our electric vehicles, and our services, which may not occur. Our business also will at times require significant amounts of working capital to support the growth of additional electric vehicle platforms and electric vehicle models. An inability to generate positive cash flow for the near term may adversely affect our ability to raise needed capital for our business on reasonable terms, diminish supplier or customer willingness to enter into transactions with us, and have other adverse effects that may decrease our long-term viability. There can be no assurance that we will achieve positive cash flow in the near future or at all.
Our research and development efforts may not yield the expected results or results on expected timelines or at expected costs.
Technological innovation is critical to our success, and we have strategically developed most of the key technologies in-house, such as energy dense battery packs and battery management systems (“BMS”), high power, high efficiency inverters and motors, efficient onboard charger and DC-DC converter and best-in-class software and controls. We have been investing heavily in our research and development efforts. In the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022, our research and development expenses amounted to $41,742 thousand, $54,070 thousand, and $35,612 thousand, respectively. Our research and development expenses accounted for 156.73%, 142.20%, and 76.04% of our total revenues for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023, and 2022, respectively. The electric vehicle industry can experience rapid technological changes, and we often need to invest significant resources in research and development to lead or maintain technological advances and remain competitive in the market. Therefore, we expect that our research and development expenses will continue to be significant. Furthermore, research and development activities are inherently uncertain, and there can be no assurance that we will continue to achieve technological breakthroughs and successfully commercialize such breakthroughs. As a result, our significant expenditures on research and development may not generate corresponding benefits. If our research and development efforts fail to keep up with the latest technological developments, we may suffer a decline in our competitive position.
Apart from our in-house expertise, we also rely on certain technologies of our suppliers to enhance the performance of our electric vehicles. In particular, we do not manufacture battery cells, which makes us dependent upon suppliers for the relevant technologies. As technologies change, we plan to upgrade our existing models and introduce new models to provide our electric vehicles with the latest technologies, including battery cells, which could involve substantial costs and lower our return on investment for existing models.
Even if we are able to keep pace with changes in technologies and develop new models, our prior models could become obsolete more quickly than expected, potentially reducing our return on investment.
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Increases in costs, disruption of supply, or shortage of materials and components necessary for our electric vehicles, could materially and negatively affect our business.
We and our suppliers may experience increases in the cost of or a sustained interruption in the supply or shortage of materials. Any such cost increase, supply interruption or shortage could materially and negatively impact our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. We and our suppliers use various materials in our businesses and products, including, for example, lithium-ion battery cells, semiconductor chips and steel, and the prices for these materials fluctuate. The available supply of these materials may be unstable, depending on market conditions and global demand. For example, global trade issues and changes in and uncertainties with respect to trade and export regulations, trade policies and sanctions, tariffs, international trade disputes, particularly those relating to exports of certain technologies to China, geopolitical events and related actions that may occur between mainland China and Taiwan, the conflict in Ukraine, the Israeli-Palestinian military conflict, and inflationary pressure, may cause disruptions to and delays in our operations, including shortages and delays in the supply of certain parts, including semiconductors, materials and equipment necessary for the production of our vehicles, and the various internal designs and processes we may adopt in an effort to remedy or mitigate impacts of such disruptions and delays may result in higher costs. In addition, our business also depends on the continued supply of battery cells for our electric vehicles. We are exposed to multiple risks relating to lithium‐ion battery cells. These risks include, but are not limited to:
•an increase in the cost, or decrease in the available supply, of materials used in the cells, including as a result of new regulation;
•disruption in the supply of cells due to quality issues or recalls by battery cell manufacturers; and
•fluctuations in the value of any foreign currencies in which battery cell and related raw material purchases are or may be denominated against the US dollar.
Our business is dependent on the continued supply of battery cells for the battery packs used in our electric vehicles. The Arrow powertrain will utilize the industry-standard 21700 cylindrical cell form factor that enables rapid implementation of alternate cells from a wide variety of manufacturers with minimal mechanical changes and targeted adjustments to the BMS algorithms. LiveWire’s ongoing cell manufacturer relationship development, cell assessment, and cell characterization work positions LiveWire to respond in a nimble manner to potential disruptions. However, there is still a risk of disruption to production if a need arises to change suppliers with insufficient advance notice.
Semiconductor chips and other electronics subcomponents are also a vital input component to the electrical architecture of our electric vehicles, controlling wide aspects of the electric vehicles’ operations. Many of the key semiconductor chips and electronics subcomponents used in our electric vehicles come from single-source or limited-source suppliers, and therefore, a disruption with any one manufacturer or supplier in our supply chain could have an adverse effect on our ability to effectively produce and timely deliver our electric vehicles. Due to our reliance on these semiconductor chips and electronics subcomponents, we are subject to the risk of shortages and long lead times in their supply. While LiveWire has entered into supply agreements to acquire some of the critical semiconductor chips and electronics subcomponents, we may have limited flexibility to immediately change suppliers in the event of any disruption in the supply of those chips and electronics subcomponents, which could then disrupt production of our electric vehicles. LiveWire has in the past experienced, and we may in the future experience, semiconductor chip and electronics subcomponents shortages, and the availability and cost of these components would be difficult to predict.
Furthermore, fluctuations or shortages in petroleum and changes in economic conditions may cause us to experience significant increases in freight charges and material costs. Substantial increases in the prices for our materials or prices charged to us, such as those charged by battery cell or semiconductor chip suppliers, would increase our operating costs and could reduce our margins. For example, supply chain issues, resulting from global trade issues and changes in and uncertainties with respect to trade and export regulations, trade policies and sanctions, tariffs, international trade disputes, particularly those relating to exports of certain technologies to China, geopolitical events and related actions that may occur between mainland China and Taiwan, the conflict in Ukraine, the Israeli-Palestinian military conflict, and inflationary pressure, may result in increases in the cost of input materials, components and processes required to produce our electric vehicles, and we may need to increase the prices of our electric vehicles in response to these cost pressures. Price increases and other measures taken by us to offset higher costs could materially and adversely affect our reputation and brand, result in negative publicity and loss of customers and sales, and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. In addition, a growth in popularity of electric vehicles without a significant expansion in battery cell production capacity could result in shortages which would result in increased materials costs to us and would impact our projected manufacturing and delivery timelines, and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
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Our limited operating history makes evaluating our business and future prospects difficult.
H-D began making initial deliveries of our predecessor electric motorcycle, the Harley-Davidson LiveWire, in September 2019. We then launched the LiveWire One model in July 2021 followed by a special launch edition of the S2 Del Mar® in May 2022 with full production and sales beginning in the third quarter of 2023. In 2024, additional models on the S2 platform were sold. In 2019, H-D acquired STACYC Inc. and began selling electric balance bikes, which are currently sold under the STACYC and H-D brands, as well as through private label arrangements. As new products, there is limited historical basis for making judgments on the demand for our electric vehicles, our ability to develop, produce and deliver electric vehicles, or our profitability in the future. It is difficult to predict our future revenues and appropriately budget for our expenses, and trends may emerge in this quickly evolving industry that may be outside our visibility and may affect our business. You should consider our business and prospects in light of the risks and challenges we face as a pioneer in a new industry, including with respect to our ability to continuously advance our electric vehicle technologies; develop safe, reliable and quality electric vehicles that appeal to customers; deliver and service a large volume of electric vehicles; turn profitable; build a globally recognized and respected brand cost-effectively; expand our electric vehicles lineup; navigate the evolving regulatory environment; improve and maintain our operational efficiency; manage supply chain effectively; adapt to changing market conditions, including technological developments and changes in competitive landscape; and manage our growth effectively.
While our Electric Motorcycles segment currently focuses on the LiveWire One and the S2 platform, we expect our product roadmap to expand beyond the LiveWire One and the S2 platform and introduce new models in other categories or using other technologies that we have less experience in as we may adjust our strategies and plans from time to time to remain competitive as a pioneer in a new industry.
If we fail to address any or all of these risks and challenges, our business may be materially and adversely affected.
We may be unable to develop and produce electric vehicles of sufficient quality, on a schedule and at scale that would appeal to a large customer base.
Our business depends in large part on our ability to develop, market, produce and sell our electric vehicles. The continued development of and the ability to sell our electric vehicles at scale, including the LiveWire One, the S2 platform, and future electric vehicles, are and will be subject to risks, including with respect to:
•our ability to secure necessary funding;
•our ability to develop and launch a light model electric vehicle at scale and at competitive profit margins for our business;
•our ability to negotiate and execute definitive agreements, and maintain arrangements on reasonable terms, with our various suppliers for hardware, software or services necessary to engineer or manufacture parts or components of our electric vehicles;
•securing necessary components, services or licenses on acceptable terms and in a timely manner;
•delays by us in delivering final component designs to our suppliers;
•our ability to accurately produce electric vehicles within specified design tolerances;
•quality controls, including within our production operations, that prove to be ineffective or inefficient;
•defects in design and/or manufacture that cause our electric vehicles not to perform as expected or that require repair, field actions, product recalls or design changes;
•delays, disruptions or increased costs in our third-party service providers’ and our third-party suppliers’ supply chain, including raw material supplies;
•other delays, cost overruns and backlog in manufacturing and research and development of new models;
•obtaining required regulatory approvals and certifications;
•compliance with environmental, safety and similar regulations; and
•our ability to attract, recruit, hire, retain and train skilled employees.
Historically, motorcycle customers have expected motorcycle manufacturers to periodically introduce new and improved vehicle models. To meet these expectations, we intend to introduce new electric motorcycle models and enhanced versions of existing models. The electric vehicle market is new and quickly evolving. As a pioneer in a new industry, we inherently have limited experience as a company, designing, testing, manufacturing, marketing and selling our electric motorcycles and therefore cannot assure you that we will be able to meet customer expectations. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
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The electric vehicle sector is growing and our products and services are and will be subject to competition from competitors.
Both the vehicle industry generally, and the electric motorcycle sector in particular, are highly competitive, and our Electric Motorcycle segment will be competing for sales with both leading internal combustion engine-focused companies and smaller electric motorcycle-focused companies. Several major motorcycle companies currently have electric motorcycles available, and other current and prospective motorcycle manufacturers are also developing electric motorcycles. STACYC is a category creator for electric balance bikes. There have been some competitors who have entered the market, but we expect competition to grow as the market shifts to younger riders and more players begin to make serious investments in the category.
Factors affecting competition include product performance and quality, technological innovation, customer experience, brand differentiation, product design, pricing and manufacturing scale and efficiency. Increased competition may lead to lower vehicle unit sales and increased inventory, which may result in downward price pressure and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. We also expect competition for electric vehicle customers to intensify due to current and potential future demand constraints. Further, as a result of new entrants in the electric vehicle market, we may experience increased competition for components and other parts of our electric vehicles, including internal competition between our Electric Motorcycle and STACYC segments, which may have limited or single-source supply.
Our business and prospects depend significantly on our ability to build the LiveWire brand and consumers’ recognition, acceptance and adoption of the LiveWire brand. We may not succeed in continuing to maintain and strengthen the LiveWire brand.
Our business and prospects are heavily dependent on our ability to develop, maintain and strengthen our brand. If we do not continue to establish, maintain and strengthen our brand, we may lose the opportunity to build a critical mass of customers. Promoting and positioning our brand will likely depend significantly on our ability to provide high-quality electric vehicles and engage with our customers as intended. In addition, our ability to develop, maintain and strengthen our brand will depend heavily on the success of our customer development and branding efforts. Such efforts mainly include building a community of customers engaged with our branding initiatives, such as at automotive shows and events. To effectively build our brand with a new customer in a new industry, such efforts may be non-traditional and may not achieve the desired results. To promote our brand, we may be required to change our customer development and branding practices, which could result in substantially increased expenses, including the potential to use traditional media such as television, radio and print and engage celebrity talent or brand ambassadors. If we do not develop and maintain a strong brand, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results may be materially and adversely impacted.
In addition, if negative incidents occur or are perceived to have occurred, whether or not such incidents are our fault, we could be subject to adverse publicity. In particular, given the popularity of social media, any negative publicity, whether true or not, could quickly proliferate and materially and negatively affect consumer perceptions and confidence in the LiveWire brand. Furthermore, there is the risk of potential adverse publicity related to our manufacturing partners or other partners whether or not such publicity is related to their collaboration with us. Our ability to successfully position our brand could also be adversely affected by perceptions about the quality of ours or our competitors’ vehicles.
In addition, from time to time, our electric vehicles may be evaluated and reviewed by third parties. Any negative reviews or reviews that compare us unfavorably to competitors or unfavorably to ICE motorcycle products could adversely affect consumer perception about our electric vehicles or electric vehicles in general.
We have an established standard of quality and associated consumer expectations through our H-D motorcycle lineage. If we are unable to continue providing quality services and customer service, our business and reputation may be materially and adversely affected.
Our business and prospects heavily depend on our ability to develop, maintain and strengthen the LiveWire standard of quality and associated consumer expectations, including maintaining the established standard of quality and associated consumer expectations through our H-D motorcycle lineage. If we are not able to establish, maintain and strengthen the LiveWire standard of quality and associated consumer expectations with our brand, we may lose the opportunity to build a critical mass of customers. Our ability to develop, maintain and strengthen the LiveWire brand will depend heavily on our ability to provide high-quality electric vehicles and engage with our customers as intended, as well as the success of our customer development and marketing efforts. If we do not develop and maintain a strong brand associated with the LiveWire brand, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely impacted.
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Our relationship with H-D presents potential opportunities, synergies and risks. Our brand and reputation could be materially and negatively affected through negative publicity regarding H-D and its products and services.
Our relationship with H-D presents potential opportunities, synergies and risks for us. However, the association of our business and brand to H-D and its business could subject us to reputational and regulatory risks. Any negative developments with respect to H-D may materially and adversely affect our business and brand. Additionally, the anticipated benefits of the synergies with H-D may not be realized or the value of goodwill and other intangible assets could be impacted by one or more continuing unfavorable events or trends, which could result in significant impairment charges. The occurrence of any of these events could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We may experience operational and financial risks if we fail to effectively and appropriately separate the LiveWire business from the H-D business.
We may experience operational and financial risks in connection with separating from H-D if we are unable to:
•successfully separate the operations, as well as the accounting, financial controls, management information, technology, data, human resources and other administrative systems and functions, of H‐D from our operations and systems;
•successfully identify, validate, qualify and contract with replacement or second-source manufacturing, engineering, development and testing service providers (or stand up such capabilities internally) to act as second sources or replacement sources of such services in the event H-D is unable to provide such services or our agreements with H-D to provide the same expire or are terminate;
•successfully identify and realize potential synergies with H-D; and
•fully identify potential risks and liabilities associated with H-D, including intellectual property infringement claims, violations of laws, commercial disputes, tax liabilities, litigation or other claims in connection with H-D, including claims from terminated employees, former stockholders, H-D dealers, or other third parties, and other known and unknown liabilities.
H-D could make decisions for the benefit of its overall business that could negatively impact our overall business.
As a result of the Separation, H-D, through the Legacy ElectricSoul, LLC (the “Legacy LiveWire Equityholder”), is our majority stockholder. To ensure we are making decisions that benefit our business and our stockholders, we have a conflicts committee (the “Conflicts Committee”) of the board of directors of LiveWire (the “Board”) to review and approve any matter involving a conflict of interest between us and H-D. Outside of our business, H-D may make certain decisions that benefit its overall business, including its relationships with its suppliers and dealers, that could negatively impact our overall business, including our supplier partnerships, pricing, approach to manufacturing or ability to expand distribution. These decisions by H-D about its business may have a material and adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Our relationship with H-D may impact our other business relationships or potential business relationships.
H-D has many longstanding business relationships that we expect to largely be able to leverage to our benefit through our relationship with H-D. Our relationship with H-D may also affect our ability to develop and maintain our own relationships with companies providing services and capabilities to, or for the benefit of, our business, including supply, distribution, marketing and operations. Depending upon the relationship between H-D and these other companies, the other companies may be less willing or unwilling to develop and maintain relationships with us. Additionally, they may favor our competitors or may view us as competitors because of our relationship with H-D. We may also enter into certain agreements with H-D pursuant to which we and/or H-D have continuing obligations to provide services to each other. Our inability to maintain the business relationships necessary to maintain and grow our business may materially and negatively impact our results.
Leveraging contract manufacturers, including H-D, KYMCO and other potential partners, to contract manufacture electric vehicles is subject to risks.
A key financial benefit to our business is our asset-light operating model in which we rely on contract manufacturers to produce our electric vehicles. We have secured the experience and expertise of H-D and KYMCO, as well as other vendors for STACYC products, to serve as our long-term contract manufacturing partners to provide manufacturing, procurement, logistics and distribution services for our platforms and certain other products. If these contract manufacturing agreements terminate or expire, or if H-D or KYMCO, or other vendors for STACYC products, fail to perform or meet our expected quality standards, timelines, capacity requirements, costs, manufacturing capabilities or manufacturing footprint, we may need to engage another
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third‐party contract manufacturer or build our own in-house manufacturing capabilities, which could cause us to incur significant cost and expense. Additionally, our contractual exclusivity requirements and potential recourse against H-D for their failure to perform or meet our expected quality standards is limited. We do not currently have alternate manufacturing arrangements in place so it may take time to transition to another contract manufacturer, and there is no guarantee that they would be able to meet our capacity, capability or quality requirements, or otherwise be an effective and acceptable manufacturing solution. Any of the foregoing could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
If retail partners are unwilling to participate in our go-to-market business model or are unable or ineffective in establishing or maintaining relationships with customers for electric vehicles, it may adversely impact our business.
We employ a go-to-market business model whereby our revenue is generated primarily by selling at wholesale to a network of independent dealers, which currently are largely drawn from H-D’s traditional motorcycle dealer network, while we also seek to develop new retail partners. We depend on the capability of these retail partners to develop and implement effective retail sales plans to create demand among retail purchasers for our electric vehicles and related products and services that the retail partners may purchase from us. We provide our retail partners with specific training and programs to assist them in selling our products, but there can be no assurance that these steps will be effective. If our retail partners are not able to establish, maintain and strengthen our brand, we may lose the opportunity to build a critical mass of customers. Our retail partners’ ability to develop, maintain and strengthen their relationships with customers for electric vehicles will depend heavily on our ability to provide high-quality electric vehicles and engage with our customers as intended, as well as the success of our customer development and marketing efforts. The electric vehicle industry is intensely competitive, and we may not be successful in building, maintaining and strengthening our relationship with customers. If we do not develop and maintain a strong brand, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely impacted.
Some of these retail partners may also market, sell and support offerings that may be competitive with ours, may devote more resources to the marketing, sales and support of such competitive offerings or may have incentives to promote other offerings to the detriment of our own. Our retail partners could subject us to lawsuits, potential liability, and reputational harm if, for example, any of our retail partners misrepresents the functionality of our electric vehicles to customers or violates laws or our or their corporate policies. Our ability to achieve revenue growth in the future will depend, in part, on our success in maintaining successful relationships with our retail partners, identifying additional retail partners, including in new markets, and training our retail partners to independently sell our electric vehicles. For example, we recently changed our go-to-market strategy in Europe from selling direct to customers through international partners to selling at wholesale to independent dealers. If our current retail partners in Europe do not commit to our new go-to-market strategy by continuing to be a part of our network going forward, or if we are unable to enter into arrangements with or retain a sufficient number of high-quality retail partners in each of the regions in which we sell our electric vehicles and keep them motivated to sell our electric vehicles, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be adversely affected.
If we are unable to establish and maintain confidence in our long-term business prospects among customers and analysts and within our industry, or are subject to negative publicity, then our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results may suffer materially.
Customers may be less likely to purchase our electric vehicles if they are not convinced that our business will succeed or that our service and support and other operations will continue in the long-term. Similarly, suppliers and other third parties may be less likely to invest time and resources in developing business relationships with us if they are not convinced that our business will succeed. Accordingly, to build and maintain our business, we must maintain confidence among customers, suppliers, analysts, ratings agencies and other parties in our electric vehicles, long-term financial viability and business prospects. Maintaining such confidence may be complicated by certain factors, including those that are largely outside of our control, such as our limited operating history; customer unfamiliarity with our electric vehicles and electric vehicles and electric motorcycles in general; any delays in scaling production, delivery and service operations to meet demand; competition and uncertainty regarding the future of our electric vehicles and electric vehicles and electric motorcycles in general; and our production and sales performance compared with market expectations.
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We, our service providers, and our suppliers are subject to numerous regulations. Unfavorable changes to, or failure by us, our service providers or our suppliers to comply with these regulations could materially and negatively affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We and our electric vehicles, and vehicles in general, as well as our third-party service providers partners and our suppliers, are or will be subject to substantial regulation under foreign, federal, state and local laws. We continue to evaluate requirements for licenses, approvals, certificates and governmental authorizations necessary to manufacture, sell, deploy or service our electric vehicles in the jurisdictions in which we plan to operate and, to the extent we have not already, intend to take such actions necessary to comply. We may experience difficulties in obtaining or complying with various licenses, approvals, certifications and other governmental authorizations necessary to manufacture, sell, deploy or service our electric vehicles in any of these jurisdictions. If we, our third‐party service providers or our suppliers are unable to obtain or comply with any of the licenses, approvals, certifications or other governmental authorizations necessary to carry out our operations in the jurisdictions in which we or they currently operate, or those jurisdictions in which we or they plan to operate in the future, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially adversely affected. We expect to incur significant costs in complying with these regulations. Regulations related to the electric and alternative energy vehicle industry are evolving and we face risks associated with changes to these regulations, including, but not limited to:
•increased support for other alternative fuel systems, which could have an impact on the acceptance of our electric vehicles; and
•increased sensitivity by regulators to the needs of established automobile and motorcycle manufacturers, which could lead them to pass regulations that could reduce the compliance costs of such established manufacturers or mitigate the effects of government efforts to promote alternative fuel vehicles.
To the extent the laws change, our electric vehicles may not comply with or be positioned to take advantage of applicable foreign, federal, state or local laws, which may have an adverse effect on our business. Compliance with changing regulations could be burdensome, time consuming and expensive. To the extent compliance with new regulations is cost prohibitive, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be adversely affected.
Electric vehicles are inherently new products. We may experience significant delays in the design, production and launch of our electric vehicles, which could materially and negatively affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Our future business depends in large part on our ability to execute on our plans to develop, produce, market and sell our electric vehicles. Electric vehicle companies experience delays in the design, production and commercial release of new products. To the extent we delay the launch of future models of electric vehicles, our growth prospects could be adversely affected as we may fail to establish or grow our market share. Furthermore, we rely on contract manufacturers for the manufacturing of electric vehicles. We could experience delays if our contract manufacturers do not meet agreed upon timelines or experience capacity constraints. Additionally, we rely on third‐party suppliers for the provision and development of the key components and materials used in our electric vehicles. To the extent our suppliers experience any delays in providing our outsourced manufacturing partners with or developing necessary components, we could experience delays in delivering on our timelines. See “-Increases in costs, disruption of supply, or shortage of materials and components could materially and negatively affect our business.”
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Our business may suffer if our products or features contain defects or fail to perform as expected. We may choose to or be compelled to undertake product recalls or take other similar actions, which could adversely affect our brand image, business and operating results.
If our electric vehicles contain design or manufacturing defects that cause them not to perform as expected or that require repair, our ability to develop, market and sell our products and services may be materially and negatively affected, and we may experience delivery delays, product recalls, product liability, breach of warranty and consumer protection claims and significant warranty and other expenses. In particular, our electric vehicles are highly dependent on software, which is inherently complex and may contain latent defects or errors or be subject to external attacks. Although we attempt to remedy any issues we observe in our electric vehicles as effectively and rapidly as possible, such efforts may not be timely, may hamper production or may not completely satisfy our customers. While we perform extensive internal testing on our electric vehicles and features, we currently have a limited frame of reference by which to evaluate their long-term quality, reliability, durability and performance characteristics when operating in the field. There can be no assurance that we will be able to detect and fix all defects in our electric vehicles prior to their sale to or installation for customers. Despite safety and quality reviews, the Consumer Product Safety Commission or other applicable regulatory bodies may require, or we may voluntarily institute, the recall, repair or replacement of our electric vehicles if our electric vehicles are found not to be in compliance with applicable standards or regulations.
Any product recall in the future, whether initiated by a regulator, us or a supplier, and whether the product recall involves our or a competitor’s product, may result in adverse publicity, damage our brand image, and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. Such recalls, whether caused by systems or components engineered or manufactured by us or our suppliers, may involve significant expense, the possibility of lawsuits, and diversion of management’s attention and other resources, which could adversely affect our brand image and our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We depend on suppliers, including critical and single source suppliers, to deliver components according to schedules, prices, quality and volumes that are acceptable to us. We may be unable to effectively manage these suppliers. Uncertainties in the global economy may negatively impact suppliers and other business partners, which may interrupt the supply chain and require other changes to operations. These and other factors may adversely impact revenues and operating income.
Our success will be dependent upon our ability to enter into supplier agreements and maintain our relationships with existing suppliers who are critical to the output and production of our electric vehicles. The supply agreements we may enter into with suppliers in the future may have provisions where such agreements can be terminated in various circumstances, including potentially without cause. If our suppliers become unable to provide, or experience delays in providing, components or if the supply agreements we enter into are terminated, it may be difficult to find replacement components. Additionally, our products contain parts that we purchase from single-source or limited-source suppliers, for which no immediate or readily available alternative supplier exists. While we believe that we would be able to establish alternate supply relationships and can obtain or engineer replacement components for our single-source components, we may be unable to do so in the short-term (or at all) at prices or quality levels that are acceptable to us. In addition, as we evaluate opportunities and take steps to insource certain components and parts, supply arrangements with current or future suppliers (with respect to other components and parts offered by such suppliers) may be available on less favorable terms or not at all, especially in light of the increases in materials pricing. Unexpected changes in business conditions, materials pricing, including inflation of raw material costs, labor issues, wars, trade policies, tariffs, natural disasters, health epidemics, trade and shipping disruptions, port congestions and other factors beyond our or our suppliers’ control could also affect these suppliers’ ability to deliver components to us or to remain solvent and operational. For example, a global shortage of semiconductor chips was reported beginning in early 2021 and caused challenges in the manufacturing industry and impacted our supply chain and production as well. Additionally, if our suppliers do not accurately forecast and effectively allocate production or if they are not willing to allocate sufficient production to us, it may reduce our access to components and require us to search for new suppliers. The unavailability of any component or supplier could result in production delays, product design changes and loss of access to important technology and tools for producing and supporting our products, as well as impact our capacity expansion and our ability to fulfill our obligations under customer contracts. Moreover, significant increases in our production or product design changes by us may in the future require us to procure additional components in a short amount of time. Our suppliers may not be willing or able to sustainably meet our timelines or our cost, quality and volume needs, or to do so may cost us more, which may require us to replace them with other sources.
In addition, if our suppliers experience substantial financial difficulties, cease operations or otherwise face business disruptions, we would be required to take measures to ensure components and materials remain available. Any disruption could affect our ability to deliver electric vehicles and could increase our costs and negatively affect our liquidity and financial performance.
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Also, if a supplied vehicle component becomes the subject of a product recall, we may be required to find an alternative component, which could increase our costs and cause vehicle production delays. Additionally, we may become subject to costly litigation surrounding the component.
If we do not enter into long-term supply agreements with guaranteed pricing for our parts or components, we may be exposed to fluctuations in prices of components, materials and equipment comprising the products purchased from our contract manufacturers, including H-D. Agreements for the purchase of battery cells contain or are likely to contain pricing provisions that are subject to adjustments based on changes in market prices of key commodities. Substantial increases in the prices for such components, materials and equipment would increase our operating costs and could reduce our margins if we cannot recoup the increased costs. Any attempts to increase the announced or expected prices of our electric vehicles in response to increased costs could be viewed negatively by our potential customers and could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
The success of our business depends on the availability of power and charging infrastructure for electric vehicles. Limitations on that infrastructure may negatively impact our business.
Demand for our electric vehicles will depend in part upon the availability of public charging infrastructure. We do not plan to develop or invest in our own network of charging stations, but will instead rely on the use of at‐home charging, which makes up the majority of electric vehicle charging today, along with a growing publicly accessible charging infrastructure provided by third parties and the government. We have limited experience in the actual provision of charging solutions to customers, and the facilitation of these services is subject to challenges, which include:
•successful integration with existing third-party charging networks, including obtaining necessary licenses for charging solutions on commercially acceptable terms;
•inadequate capacity or over capacity in certain areas, security risks or risk of damage to vehicles, charging equipment or real or personal property;
•access to sufficient charging infrastructure;
•the potential for lack of customer acceptance of our charging solutions; and
•the risk that government support for electric vehicle and alternative fuel solutions and infrastructure may not continue.
While the prevalence of charging stations generally has been increasing, charging station locations are significantly less widespread than gas stations. Some potential customers may choose not to purchase our electric vehicles because of the lack of a more widespread charging infrastructure. To provide our customers with access to sufficient charging infrastructure, we will rely on the availability and successful integration of our electric vehicles with third-party charging networks. Any failure of third-party charging networks to meet customer expectations or needs, including quality of experience, could impact the demand for electric vehicles, including ours. For example, where charging bays exist, the number of electric vehicles could oversaturate the available charging bays, leading to increased wait times and dissatisfaction for customers. To the extent we are unable to meet user expectations or experience difficulties in facilitating access to charging solutions, our reputation and business, prospects, financial condition and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.
We may face challenges in expanding our business and operations internationally, and our ability to conduct business in international markets may be adversely affected by legal, regulatory, political and economic risks.
Our business plan includes operations in international markets, including, but not limited to, Germany, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, and Canada, and eventual expansion into other international markets. We will face risks associated with any potential international operations, including possible unfavorable legal, regulatory, political and economic risks, which could materially and negatively affect our business. We anticipate having international operations and subsidiaries that are subject to the legal, political, regulatory and social requirements and economic conditions in these jurisdictions. Furthermore, conducting and launching operations on an international scale requires close coordination of activities across multiple jurisdictions and time zones and consumes significant management resources. We will be subject to a number of risks associated with international business activities that may increase our costs, impact our ability to sell our electric vehicles and require significant management attention. These risks include:
•conforming our electric vehicles to various international regulatory requirements where our electric vehicles are sold and serviced, which requirements may change over time;
•expenditures related to foreign lawsuits and liability;
•difficulties in staffing and managing foreign operations;
•difficulties establishing relationships with, or disruption in the supply chain from, international suppliers;
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•difficulties attracting customers in new jurisdictions;
•difficulties in attracting effective distributors, dealers or sales agents, as the case may be;
•foreign government taxes, regulations and permit requirements, including foreign taxes that we may not be able to offset against taxes imposed upon us in the United States, and foreign tax and other laws limiting our ability to repatriate funds to the United States;
•fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates and interest rates, including risks related to any foreign currency swap or other hedging activities we undertake;
•United States and foreign government trade restrictions, tariffs and price or exchange controls;
•foreign labor laws, regulations and restrictions;
•changes in diplomatic and trade relationships;
•laws and business practices favoring local companies;
•difficulties protecting or procuring intellectual property;
•the adoption of the LiveWire brand versus competitive foreign brands;
•political instability, natural disasters, war or events of terrorism and health epidemics, such as the conflict in Ukraine or the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and
•the strength of international economies.
If we fail to successfully address these risks, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely affected.
The battery’s range and life will deteriorate with usage and time, which, if material, could negatively influence potential customers’ decisions to purchase our electric vehicles.
All lithium-ion batteries are consumable components that become less effective as they chemically age. As lithium-ion batteries chemically age, the amount of charge they can hold diminishes, which may result in a perceptible decrease in range for an electric vehicle. This can be referred to as the battery’s maximum capacity, i.e., the measure of battery capacity relative to when it was new. In addition, a battery’s ability to deliver maximum instantaneous performance, or “peak power,” may decrease and impact acceleration performance in an electric vehicle. A normal battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity after 30,000 miles when operating under normal conditions. Although common to all electric vehicles, lithium-ion battery aging may negatively influence potential customers’ electric vehicle purchase decisions.
Unexpected termination of leases or failure to renew the lease of our existing premises or to renew such leases at acceptable terms could materially and adversely affect our business.
We lease the premises for our research and development facility, retails stores and offices. We cannot assure you that we would be able to renew the relevant lease agreements without substantial additional cost or increase in the rental cost payable by us. If a lease agreement is renewed at a rent substantially higher than the current rate, or currently existing favorable terms granted by the lessor are not extended, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected. Additionally, if our sublease at our Company-owned dealership location is either terminated or not renewed by our landlord, or otherwise prohibited for legal or regulatory reasons, and we do not have an existing alternate dealership location, that could jeopardize our dealer license, which would impact our ability to make direct sales to consumers and could materially and adversely affect our business.
We may be unable to complete environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) initiatives, in whole or in part, which could lead to less opportunity for us to have ESG investors and partners and could negatively impact ESG‐focused investors when evaluating us.
There remains significant attention, including by consumers, investors, employees and other stockholders, as well as by governmental and non-governmental organizations, on ESG matters generally and with regard to our industry specifically.
We have undertaken, ESG initiatives, which may be costly and not have the desired effect. Any failure (or perceived failure) to meet commitments that we have set in relation to ESG matters, or loss of confidence on the part of customers, investors, employees, brand partners and other stockholders as it relates to our ESG initiatives could negatively impact our brand, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. These impacts could be difficult and costly to overcome, even if such concerns were based on inaccurate or misleading information, and our reputation and brand image could be damaged, and our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely impacted.
In addition, achieving our ESG initiatives may result in increased costs in our supply chain, fulfillment, and/or corporate business operations, and could deviate from our initial estimates and have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition. As with other companies, our approach to such matters has evolved over time, and we expect it will
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continue to evolve, but we cannot guarantee that our approach will ultimately align with any particular stakeholder’s preferences or expectations. In addition, regulation, standards and research regarding ESG initiatives and disclosure requirements could change and become more onerous for both us and our third-party suppliers and vendors to meet successfully. Evolving data and research could undermine or refute our current claims and beliefs that we have made in reliance on current research, which could also result in costs, a decrease in revenue, and negative market perception that could have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.
A variety of organizations measure the performance of companies on such ESG topics, and the results of these assessments are widely publicized, and are used in investment decision making processes. In addition, there is investment in funds that specialize in companies that perform well in such assessments, and certain investors have publicly emphasized the importance of such ESG measures to their investment decisions. Topics taken into account in such assessments include, among others, the company’s efforts and impacts on climate change and human rights, ethics and compliance with law and the role of the company’s board of directors in supervising various sustainability issues. In light of investors’ increased focus on ESG matters, there can be no certainty that we will manage such issues successfully or that we will successfully meet society’s ESG expectations or achieve our financial goals. Simultaneously, there are efforts by some stakeholders to reduce companies’ efforts on certain ESG-related matters. Both advocates and opponents to certain ESG matters are increasingly resorting to a range of activism forms, including media campaigns and litigation, to advance their perspectives. To the extent we are subject to such activism, it may require us to incur costs or otherwise adversely impact our business.
While we may create and publish voluntary disclosures regarding ESG matters from time to time, many of the statements in those voluntary disclosures are based on methodologies and data that continue to evolve and that are subject to varying stakeholder interpretations and preferences. In addition, emerging regulation requiring additional ESG public disclosure by certain companies in a number of jurisdictions and/or additional ESG obligations may lead to heightened scrutiny of our ESG performance, to the extent we are required to publish additional information in relation to our ESG performance or to meet such additional ESG obligations. For example, various policymakers—including the SEC, European Union, and the State of California—have adopted or are considering adopting requirements for certain companies to undertake certain climate- or other-ESG related disclosures or actions. Policymakers’ approaches are not uniform, which may increase the cost or complexity of compliance, as well as increase the general risk of litigation or enforcement on such matters.
Additionally, there are increasing expectations in various jurisdictions that companies monitor the environmental and social performance of their suppliers and otherwise consider a wide range of potential environmental and social matters for their products and value chain (such as in relation to forced labor considerations). Certain of our suppliers operate and source materials in China and Taiwan, and their presence in our supply chain could present unique risks for us due to risks associated with the U.S. Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), as well as the strain in U.S.-China relations, and China’s unique regulatory landscape. Prohibitions on forced labor or related human rights or environmental diligence requirements have also been adopted or proposed in other jurisdictions, such as the European Union, and represents a topic that will likely be subject to further regulation in the markets we operate within. Compliance with such requirements can be costly and complex and may impact how we are able or willing to engage with suppliers.
Regulation in this area has also evolved considerably over recent years and is likely to continue to do so, which may lead to additional costs and challenges associated with ensuring compliance with changing standards. Furthermore, industry and market practices may further develop to become even more robust than what is required under any new laws and regulations, and we may have to expend significant efforts and resources to keep up with market trends and stay competitive among our peers, which could result in higher associated compliance costs and penalties for failure to comply with such laws and regulations. At the same time, there are efforts by some stakeholders and policymakers to reduce companies’ attention to certain ESG-related matters. Advocates and opponents of ESG matters are increasingly resulting to a range of activism to promote their viewpoints, which may require us to incur additional costs or otherwise adversely impact our business. This and other stakeholder expectations will likely lead to increased compliance costs as well as scrutiny that could heighten all of the risks identified in this risk factor. Additionally, many of our customers, retailers, suppliers, or other stakeholders are subject to similar expectations, which may augment or create additional risks.
Our electric vehicles use lithium-ion battery cells. When not properly managed, lithium-ion battery cells have been observed to catch fire or vent smoke and flame on rare occasions. If our electric vehicles exhibit those conditions, it could have a negative effect on our reputation and business.
The battery packs within our electric vehicles make use of lithium-ion cells. If not properly managed or subject to environmental stresses, lithium-ion cells can rapidly release the energy they contain by venting smoke and flames in a manner that can ignite nearby materials as well as other lithium-ion cells. While the battery pack is designed to contain any single cell’s release of energy without spreading to neighboring cells, a field or testing failure of battery packs in our electric vehicles could occur, which could result in bodily injury or death and could subject us to lawsuits, product recalls or redesign efforts, all of which would be time consuming and expensive and could materially and negatively affect our brand image and results of
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operation. Also, negative public perceptions regarding the suitability of lithium-ion cells for automotive applications, the social and environmental impacts of mineral mining or procurement associated with the constituents of lithium-ion cells, or any future incident involving lithium-ion cells, such as a vehicle or other fire, could materially and adversely affect our reputation and business.
Our industry and its technology are rapidly evolving and may be subject to unforeseen changes. Developments in alternative technologies or improvements in current and future enabling and competitive technologies may adversely affect the demand for our electric vehicles.
We may be unable to keep up with changes in electric vehicle technology or alternatives to electricity as a fuel source, and as a result, our competitiveness may suffer. Developments in alternative technologies, such as advanced diesel, hydrogen, ethanol, fuel cells or compressed natural gas, or improvements in the fuel economy of the internal combustion engine or the cost of gasoline, may materially and adversely affect our business and prospects in ways we do not currently anticipate. Existing and other battery cell technologies, fuels or sources of energy may emerge as customers’ preferred alternative to our electric vehicles. Any failure by us to develop new or enhanced technologies or processes, or to react to changes in existing technologies, could materially delay our development and introduction of new and enhanced alternative fuel and electric vehicles, which could result in the loss of competitiveness of our electric vehicles, decreased revenue and a loss of market share to competitors. Our research and development efforts may not be sufficient to adapt to changes in alternative fuel and electric vehicle technology. As technologies change, we plan to upgrade or adapt our electric vehicle with the latest technology. However, our electric vehicles may not compete effectively with alternative systems if we are not able to source and integrate the latest technology into our electric vehicles. Additionally, the introduction and integration of new technologies into our electric vehicles may increase our costs and capital expenditures required for the production and manufacture of our electric vehicles. In addition, upgrades and adaptations to our vehicles will also require, from time to time, planned and temporary manufacturing shutdowns. Plant shutdowns, whether associates with product changes or other factors, can have a negative impact on our revenues. If we are unable to cost efficiently implement new technologies, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely affected.
Our future growth and success are dependent upon consumers’ adoption of, and their demand for, two- and three-wheeled electric vehicles in a sector that is generally competitive, cyclical and volatile.
Our future growth is dependent on the demand for, and upon consumers’ willingness to adopt two- and three-wheeled electric vehicles and, even if electric vehicles become more mainstream, consumers choosing us over other electric vehicles manufacturers. Demand for electric vehicles may be affected by factors directly impacting electric vehicle prices or the cost of purchasing and operating electric vehicles such as sales and financing incentives, prices of raw materials and parts and components, cost of fuel and governmental regulations, including tariffs, import regulation and other taxes. Volatility in demand may lead to lower vehicle unit sales, which may result in downward price pressure and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
In addition, the demand for our electric vehicles and services will highly depend upon the adoption by consumers of new energy vehicles in general and electric motorcycles and electric balance bikes in particular. The market for new energy vehicles is still rapidly evolving, characterized by rapidly changing technologies, competitive pricing and competitive factors, evolving government regulation and industry standards, and changing consumer demands and behaviors.
Other factors that may influence the adoption of alternative fuel vehicles, and specifically electric vehicles, include:
•perceptions about electric vehicles quality, safety, design, performance and cost, especially if adverse events or accidents occur that are linked to the quality or safety of electric vehicles, whether or not such electric vehicles are produced by us or other manufacturers;
•perceptions about electric vehicles’ safety in general, in particular safety issues that may be attributed to the use of advanced technology, including electric vehicles systems;
•range anxiety, including the decline of an electric vehicle’s range resulting from deterioration over time in the battery’s ability to hold a charge;
•the availability of new energy vehicles;
•the availability of service and charging stations for electric vehicles;
•the costs and challenges of installing home charging equipment, including for multi-family, rental and densely populated urban housing;
•the environmental consciousness of consumers, and their adoption of electric vehicles;
•the occurrence of negative incidents, or perception that negative incidents have occurred, with respect to our or our competitors’ electric vehicles resulting in adverse publicity and harm to consumer perceptions in electric vehicles generally;
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•the higher initial upfront purchase price of electric vehicles, despite lower cost of ongoing operating and maintenance costs, compared to internal combustion engines vehicles;
•perceptions about and the actual cost of alternative fuel, including the capacity and reliability of the electric grid;
•belief that electric vehicles may subject riders and passengers to greater risks because electric vehicles are quieter compared to internal combustion engine vehicles;
•regulatory, legislative and political changes, trade disputes and tariffs; and
•macroeconomic factors.
The unavailability, reduction or elimination of government and economic incentives or government policies that are favorable for electric vehicles and domestically-produced vehicles could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Any reduction, elimination, or discriminatory application of government subsidies and economic incentives because of policy changes, or the reduced need for such subsidies and incentives due to the perceived success of the electric vehicle or other reasons, may result in the diminished competitiveness of the alternative fuel and electric vehicle industry generally or our electric vehicles in particular. Additionally, federal, state and local laws may impose additional barriers to electric vehicle adoption, including additional costs. For example, many states have enacted laws imposing additional registration fees for certain hybrid and electric vehicles to support transportation infrastructure, such as highway repairs and improvements, which have traditionally been funded through federal and state gasoline taxes. Any of these conditions could materially and adversely affect the growth of the alternative fuel automobile markets and our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Certain current state tax incentives for two wheeled vehicles and federal tax credits and other incentives for alternative energy production and alternative fuel will expire in the future if not renewed or extended and there is no guarantee these programs will be renewed or extended. If these incentives are not extended or if new federal and state tax incentives for two wheeled vehicles are not enacted in the future, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially and negatively affected.
Our electric motorcycles’ quiet performance compared to internal combustion engine motorcycles may subject riders to greater risks.
Our electric motorcycles are quieter compared to internal combustion engine motorcycles, which may subject riders to greater risks. To the extent accidents associated with our quieter electric motors occur, we could be subject to liability, negative publicity, government scrutiny and further regulation. Any of these results could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Vehicle retail sales depend heavily on affordable interest rates and availability of credit for vehicle financing and a substantial increase in interest rates could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
In certain regions, including North America and Europe, financing for new vehicle sales has been available at relatively low interest rates for several years due to, among other things, expansive government monetary policies. As interest rates have risen, market rates for new vehicle financing have also risen, which may make our electric vehicles less affordable to customers or steer customers to less expensive vehicles that would be less profitable for us, adversely affecting our financial condition and operating results. Additionally, all sales of electric motorcycles and related products to H-D independent dealers in the US and Canada are financed through Harley-Davidson Financial Services, Inc. (“HDFS”), therefore we face the risk that HDFS could change its lending policies in the future, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. Additionally, if consumer interest rates increase substantially or if financial service providers tighten lending standards or restrict their lending to certain classes of credit, customers may not desire or be able to obtain financing to purchase our electric vehicles. As a result, a substantial increase in customer interest rates or tightening of lending standards could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Our inability to effectively grow or manage our financing and credit risk could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results
We provide financing for sales of electric motorcycles and related products to non-H-D independent dealers in the US and Canada and independent dealers in Europe. As such, we are subject to credit risk of our customers, and our operating results depend on receipt of timely payments from our customers under these arrangements. In addition, STACYC is subject to credit risk of its customers, and its operating results depend on receipt of timely payments from its customers. Any delay in payment by our customers may have an adverse effect on revenue and operating results. There is no assurance that we will be able to
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collect all or any of the amounts owed in a timely matter. If any of our customers face unexpected situations such as financial difficulties, we may not be able to receive full or any payment of the uncollected sums or enforce any judgment debts against such clients, and our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely affected.
Our warranty reserves may be insufficient to cover future warranty claims which could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
As our electric vehicles are produced, we will need to maintain warranty reserves to cover warranty-related claims. If our warranty reserves are insufficient to cover future warranty claims on our electric vehicles, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely affected. We record and adjust warranty reserves based on changes in estimated costs and actual warranty costs. However, as we have limited operating experience with our electric motorcycles, we have limited experience with warranty claims for these electric motorcycles and other electric vehicles and with estimating warranty reserves. In the future, we may become subject to significant and unexpected warranty expenses. There can be no assurances that then-existing warranty reserves will be sufficient to cover all claims.
We may become subject to product liability claims, which could materially and negatively affect our financial condition and liquidity if we are not able to successfully defend or insure against such claims.
We may become subject to product liability claims, which could materially and negatively affect our financial condition and liquidity. The vehicle, motorcycle and bicycle industries experience an abundance of product liability claims. We face the risk of significant monetary exposure to claims in the event our electric vehicles do not perform as expected or contain design, manufacturing, or warning defects and to claims without merit, or in connection with malfunctions resulting in personal injury or death. Moreover, a product liability claim could generate substantial negative publicity about our electric vehicles and business and inhibit or prevent commercialization of other future electric motorcycle vehicles or electric balance bikes, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and liquidity. Any insurance coverage might not be sufficient to cover all potential product liability claims. Any lawsuit seeking significant monetary damages either in excess of our coverage or outside of our coverage may have a material adverse effect on our reputation and financial condition and liquidity. We may not be able to secure additional product liability insurance coverage on commercially acceptable terms or at reasonable costs when needed, particularly if we face liability for our products and are forced to make a claim under our policies.
We depend on revenue generated from a limited number of models and in the foreseeable future will be significantly dependent on a limited number of models.
H-D began making initial deliveries of our predecessor electric motorcycle, the Harley-Davidson LiveWire, in September 2019. We then launched the LiveWire One model in July 2021 followed by a special launch edition of the S2 Del Mar® in May 2022 with full production and sales beginning in the third quarter of 2023. During 2024, we introduced additional models off the S2 platform, including MulhollandTM and AlpinistaTM. For the foreseeable future, the Electric Motorcycles segment will depend on revenue generated from a limited number of models. Historically, motorcycle customers have come to expect a variety of vehicle models offered in a company’s fleet and new and improved vehicle models to be introduced frequently.
STACYC’s current product portfolio ranges from 12- to 20-inch electric balance bikes built for 3 to 12 year-old riders. For the foreseeable future, STACYC will depend on revenue generated from these limited number of models, until STACYC can expand the range of STACYC riders.
Given that for the foreseeable future our business will depend on a limited number of models, to the extent a particular model is not well received by the market, our sales volume, business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely affected.
We are subject to risks associated with exchange rate fluctuations, interest rate changes, commodity and credit risk.
We operate in numerous markets worldwide and are exposed to risks stemming from fluctuations in currency and interest rates. The exposure to currency risk will be mainly linked to differences in the geographic distribution of our manufacturing and commercial activities, resulting in cash flows from sales being denominated in currencies different from those of purchases or production activities. Although we may manage risks associated with fluctuations in currency and interest rates and commodity prices through financial hedging instruments, significant changes in currency or interest rates or commodity prices could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. In addition, we may use various forms of financing to cover future funding requirements for our activities and changes in interest rates can affect our finance costs and margins. Furthermore, many competitors headquartered outside the U.S. experience a financial benefit from a
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strengthening in the U.S. dollar relative to their home currency that can enable them to reduce prices to U.S. consumers. We are also subject to risks associated with changes in prices of commodities.
The loss of key personnel could adversely affect the operations and profitability of our business.
We are highly dependent on our senior management and other key personnel. Our success will depend on our ability to retain senior management and to attract, recruit, retain, manage and motivate qualified personnel in the future. The loss of members of our senior management, sales and marketing professionals and engineers could result in delays in product development and materially and negatively affect our business. If we are not successful in attracting and retaining highly qualified personnel, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
Our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results may be adversely affected by health pandemics and epidemics, natural disasters, actual or threatened war, terrorist activities, political unrest, and other outbreaks.
We face various risks related to public health issues, including epidemics, pandemics and other outbreaks, such as the pandemic related to COVID-19 and associated variants. We also face various risks related to natural disasters, including hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis or other natural disasters. Such public health issues or natural disasters could disrupt our business operations, reduce or restrict our supply of materials and services, result in us incurring significant costs to protect our employees and facilities or result in regional or global economic distress, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. Actual or threatened war, including the conflict in Ukraine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, terrorist activities, political unrest, geopolitical events and related actions that may occur between mainland China and Taiwan, civil strife and other geopolitical uncertainty could have a similar adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. Any one or more of these events may impede our production and delivery efforts and adversely affect our sales results, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.
Epidemics, pandemics, and other outbreaks could result in government authorities implementing numerous measures to try to contain the such outbreaks, such as travel bans and restrictions, quarantines, stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders and business shutdowns. These measures in the past have adversely impacted our employees and operations, the operations of our suppliers, vendors and business partners, resulted in delays and shortages of certain parts and materials necessary to produce our vehicles, and the activities of our retail customers and negatively impact our production plans, sales and marketing activities, business and results of operations. In addition, various aspects of our business cannot be conducted remotely. If significant portions of our workforce are unable to work effectively, including due to illness, quarantines, social distancing, government actions or other restrictions in connection with public health issues, our operations may be adversely impacted. If government authorities reinstitute such measures or if existing measures remain in place for a significant period of time, they are likely to adversely affect our sales and marketing activities, and our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Specifically, difficult macroeconomic conditions, such as decreases in per capita income and level of disposable income, increased and prolonged unemployment, or a decline in consumer confidence as a result of future epidemics, pandemics and other outbreaks, the conflict in Ukraine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, geopolitical events and related actions that may occur between mainland China and Taiwan and inflationary pressure could have a material adverse effect on the demand for our vehicles or sourcing of components. Under difficult economic conditions, potential customers may seek to reduce spending by forgoing our electric vehicles for other traditional options, increase use of public and mass transportation options or choose to keep their existing vehicles.
We are also vulnerable to natural disasters and other calamities. Although we have servers that are hosted in an offsite location, our backup system does not capture data on a real-time basis and we may be unable to recover certain data in the event of a server failure. We cannot assure you that any backup systems will be adequate to protect us from the effects of fire, floods, typhoons, earthquakes, power loss, telecommunications failures, break-ins, war, riots, terrorist attacks or similar events. Any of these events may give rise to interruptions, damage to our property, delays in production, breakdowns, system failures, technology platform failures or Internet failures, which could cause the loss or corruption of data or malfunctions of software or hardware as well as adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
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Weather may impact retail sales by our independent dealers.
We have observed that abnormally cold and/or wet conditions in a region, including impacts from hurricanes or unusual storms, which may be exacerbated by the effects of climate change, could have the effect of reducing demand or changing the timing for purchases of our electric motorcycles at independent dealerships. Reduced demand for new electric motorcycles ultimately leads to reduced shipments by us.
Any financial or economic crisis, or perceived threat of such a crisis, including a significant decrease in consumer confidence, may materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
The global macroeconomic environment is facing challenges. There is considerable uncertainty over the long-term effects of the expansionary monetary and fiscal policies adopted by the central banks and financial authorities of some of the world’s leading economies, including the United States. There have been concerns over the downturn in economic output caused by global trade issues and changes in and uncertainties with respect to trade and export regulations, trade policies and sanctions, tariffs, international trade disputes, particularly those relating to exports of certain technologies to China, geopolitical events and related actions that may occur between mainland China and Taiwan, the conflict in Ukraine, the Israeli-Palestinian military conflict, and inflationary pressure. It is unclear whether these challenges will be contained and what effects they each may have. Economic conditions in the United States are sensitive to global economic conditions. Any prolonged slowdown in the United States economic growth might lead to tighter credit markets, increased market volatility, sudden drops in business and consumer confidence and dramatic changes in business and consumer behaviors. Credit risks of customers and suppliers and other counterparty risks may also increase.
Sales of our electric vehicles depend in part on discretionary consumer spending and are even more exposed to adverse changes in general economic conditions. In response to their perceived uncertainty in economic conditions, consumers might delay, reduce or cancel purchases of our electric vehicles, and our results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.
Our financial results may vary significantly from period to period due to fluctuations in our operating costs, product demand and other factors.
We expect our period-to-period financial results to vary based on our operating costs and product demand, which we anticipate will fluctuate as we continue to design, develop, produce and distribute new electric vehicles. Additionally, our revenue from period to period may fluctuate as we build out global distribution, add new product derivatives based on market demand and margin opportunities and introduce new or existing electric vehicles to new markets. Additionally, our revenue from period to period may fluctuate due to seasonality. As a result of these factors, we believe that quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our financial results, especially in the short term, are not necessarily meaningful and that these comparisons cannot be relied upon as indicators of future performance. Moreover, our financial results may not meet the expectations of equity research analysts, ratings agencies or investors, who may be focused only on quarterly financial results and holding us to the same standard of expectation as H-D. If any of this occurs, the trading price of our Common Stock could fall substantially, either suddenly or over time.
We may seek to obtain future financing through the issuance of debt or equity, which may have an adverse effect on our stockholders or may otherwise adversely affect our business.
If we raise funds through the issuance of additional equity or debt, including convertible debt or debt secured by some or all of our assets, holders of any debt securities or preferred shares issued will have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of holders of our Common Stock in the event of liquidation. If we issue additional debt, there is a possibility that once all senior claims are settled, there may be no assets remaining to pay out to the holders of Common Stock. In addition, if we raise funds through the issuance of additional equity, whether through private placements or public offerings, such an issuance would dilute ownership of our current stockholders that do not participate in the issuance. If we are unable to obtain any needed additional funding, we may be required to reduce the scope of, delay or eliminate some or all of our planned research, development, production and marketing activities, any of which could materially affect our business.
Furthermore, the terms of any additional debt securities we may issue in the future may impose restrictions on our operations, which may include limiting our ability to incur additional indebtedness, pay dividends on or repurchase our share capital or make certain acquisitions or investments. In addition, we may be subject to covenants requiring us to satisfy certain financial tests and ratios, and our ability to satisfy such covenants may be affected by events outside of our control.
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We intend to continue to grant equity awards under our Incentive Award Plan, which has resulted and will result in additional share-based compensation expenses.
We adopted the Incentive Award Plan for the purpose of granting share-based compensation to employees, directors and consultants to incentivize their performance and align their interests with ours. We believe the granting of share-based compensation may be important to our ability to attract and retain key personnel and employees. As a result, our expenses associated with share-based compensation has increased and will increase, which will have an adverse effect on our operating results.
If our electric vehicle owners modify our electric vehicles regardless of whether third-party aftermarket products are used, the electric vehicle may not operate properly, which may create negative publicity and could materially and negatively affect our business.
Vehicle enthusiasts may seek to alter our electric vehicles to modify their performance which could compromise vehicle safety and security systems. Also, customers may customize their electric vehicles with aftermarket parts that can compromise rider safety. We may not test, nor do we endorse, such changes or products. In addition, customers may attempt to modify our electric vehicles’ charging systems or use improper external cabling or unsafe charging outlets that can compromise the vehicle systems or expose our customers to injury from high-voltage electricity. Such unauthorized modifications could reduce the safety and security of our electric vehicles and any injuries resulting from such modifications could result in adverse publicity, which would negatively affect our brand and thus materially and negatively affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Our inability to obtain and/or retain necessary licenses and permits to operate the business may negatively impact our financial results.
It may be necessary for us to use the patented or proprietary technology of third parties to develop or commercialize our products, in which case we would be required to obtain a license or acquire intellectual property from these third parties. The licensing or acquisition of third-party intellectual property is a competitive area, and several more established companies may pursue strategies to license or acquire third-party intellectual property that we may consider attractive or necessary and thereby prevent us from obtaining the right to use such intellectual property ourselves. In addition, companies that perceive us to be a competitor may be unwilling to assign or license rights to us. If we are unable to license such technology, or if we are forced to license such technology on unfavorable terms, our business could be materially and negatively affected. If we are unable to obtain a necessary license, we may be unable to develop or commercialize the affected product models, which could materially and negatively affect our business, and the third parties owning such intellectual property could seek either an injunction prohibiting our sales or, with respect to our sales, an obligation on our part to pay royalties and/or other forms of compensation. Even if we are able to obtain a license, it may be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors access to the same technologies licensed to us.
Moreover, some of our patents and patent applications in the future may be jointly owned with third parties. If we are unable to obtain an exclusive license to any such third-party joint owners’ interests in such patents or patent applications, such joint owners may be able to license their rights to other third parties, including our competitors, who could market competing products and technology. In addition, we may need the cooperation of any such joint owners to enforce such patents against third parties, and such cooperation may not be provided to us. Any of these factors could materially and negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If our goodwill becomes impaired, our operating results could be negatively impacted.
We have goodwill, which is susceptible to valuation adjustments as a result of changes in various factors or conditions. We assess the potential impairment of goodwill on an annual basis. Whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable, we will be required to assess the potential impairment of goodwill. Factors that could trigger an impairment of such assets include the following:
•changes in our organization or management reporting structure that could result in additional reporting units, which may require alternative methods of estimating fair values or greater disaggregation or aggregation in our analysis by reporting unit;
•significant under performance relative to historical or projected future operating results;
•significant changes in the strategy for our overall business;
•significant negative industry or economic trends;
•significant decline in our stock price for a sustained period; and
•our market capitalization declining to below net book value.
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Future adverse changes in these or other unforeseeable factors could result in goodwill or other intangible assets impairment charges that could materially and negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Risks Related to the Separation and Our Ongoing Relationship with H-D
Our business and H-D’s business overlap and we may compete, or be perceived as competitors, in certain markets.
Both LiveWire and H-D are companies whose primary business involves producing, marketing and selling vehicles and related products. While we intend to operate in a different business segment than H-D, neither we nor H-D is prohibited from competing against each other. Additionally, under the Intellectual Property License Agreement, H-D has the right to use all of our existing intellectual property and incremental improvements to our existing intellectual property, which could facilitate H-D’s development of products that compete with ours; however, H-D may be required in some cases to pay us royalties for the use of our existing intellectual property and their rights to our newly-developed intellectual property would be limited as defined under the Joint Development Agreement. If we were in competition with H-D, it could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or our ability to pursue opportunities which may otherwise be available to us.
Our inability to maintain a strong relationship with H-D or to resolve favorably any disputes that may arise between us and H-D could result in a significant reduction of our revenue.
Maintaining a strong relationship with H-D and its management team will be important to our success for at least as long as H-D remains a majority stockholder. Disputes may arise between H-D and us in a number of areas relating to our ongoing relationship, including:
•our strategy, direction and objectives as a business;
•labor, tax, employee benefit, indemnification and other matters arising from our separation from H-D;
•employee retention and recruiting;
•business combinations involving us;
•our ability to engage in activities with certain customers, suppliers, and partners;
•sales or dispositions by H-D of all or any portion of its ownership interest in us;
•the nature, quality and pricing of services H-D has agreed to provide us;
•supply chain, including access to parts and raw material supplies, as well as allocation of manufacturing labor, parts and other supplies shared across H-D’s York manufacturing facility;
•business opportunities that may be attractive to both H-D and us; and
•product or technology development or marketing activities that may require the consent of H-D.
While we have the Conflicts Committee to help resolve any potential conflict between us and H-D, we may not be able to resolve all potential conflicts. Assuming we are able to resolve such a potential conflict, we intend for such resolution to be comparable to the resolution that we would reach with an unaffiliated party. However, the resolution that we actually reach may be less favorable than if we were dealing with an unaffiliated party.
The agreements we entered into with H-D may be amended upon agreement between the parties. While we are controlled by H-D, we may not have the leverage to negotiate agreements or amendments to these agreements, if required, on terms as favorable to us as those we would negotiate with an unaffiliated third party.
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We are a smaller company relative to H-D which could result in increased costs because of a decrease in our purchasing power and difficulty maintaining existing customer relationships and obtaining new customers.
Prior to the Separation, we were able to take advantage of H-D’s size and purchasing power in procuring goods, technology and services, including insurance, employee benefit support and audit and other professional services. While this may continue in some ways with H-D as a majority stockholder and contract manufacturer, we are a smaller company than H-D, and we cannot assure you that we will have access to financial and other resources comparable to those available to us prior to the Separation. As a standalone company, we may be unable to obtain office space, goods, technology and services at prices or on terms as favorable as those available to us prior to the Separation, which could increase our costs and reduce our profitability. Likewise, we may find it more difficult to attract and retain high-quality employees as a smaller company than we were operating within as a wholly owned subsidiary of H-D, which could impact our results of operations. Our future success also depends on our ability to develop and maintain relationships with customers. Our reduced relationship with H-D and our smaller relative size as a result of the Separation may make it more difficult to develop and maintain relationships with customers, which could adversely affect our prospects.
We are dependent on H-D for a number of services, including services relating to quality and safety testing. If those service arrangements terminate, it will require significant investment for us to build our own safety and testing facilities, or we may be required to obtain such services from another third party at increased costs.
We are dependent on H-D for a number of services, including services relating to quality and safety testing. If these service arrangements terminate, we do not currently have alternate arrangements in place that will allow us to fully execute our business plan, including, without limitation, agreements for quality and safety testing, and as such, we will be required to deploy significant resources to build our own safety and testing facilities, or may be required to obtain such services from another third party at increased costs. If we are unable to maintain such arrangements and agreements, or if we are unable to effectively build our own facilities or obtain such services from another third party, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results may be materially and adversely affected.
Any decision by us to help electrify H-D products, or the products of any other company, may not achieve the intended results or return on investment when compared to developing our own motorcycle portfolio.
We may decide to help electrify H-D’s and other companies’ products in the future. While we expect electrifying H-D’s motorcycle portfolio to be a key piece of our future success, these efforts require resources that may otherwise be used on our electric vehicle portfolio. All project scopes, resource allocation, time commitment, and investment dollars dedicated to the electrification of H-D’s core products will be governed by separate joint development agreements that will be established and agreed upon by the LiveWire and H-D management teams. If the available resources do not support both LiveWire and H-D electrification efforts, it could negatively impact development of our electric vehicles and ultimately our ability to deliver targeted revenues and operating income.
H-D may fail to perform under various transaction agreements that were executed as part of the Separation or we may fail to have necessary systems and services in place when certain of the transaction agreements expire.
We entered into a number of agreements with H-D as a result of the Separation, including the Trademark License Agreement, Contract Manufacturing Agreement, Tax Matters Agreement, Master Services Agreement, Joint Development Agreement and Intellectual Property License Agreement, pursuant to which we and/or H-D have continuing obligations to each other. If we or H-D fail to perform obligations under such agreements, our business may be negatively impacted. Furthermore, upon the expiration or termination of such agreements, we may not have necessary or comparable systems and services in place to replace the services provided under such agreements, which may negatively impact our business.
We will be required to make payments to H-D under the Contract Manufacturing Agreement, Tax Matters Agreement, Master Services Agreement, and certain other agreements, and the amounts of such payments could be significant.
We have entered into certain agreements pursuant to which we will be obligated to make payments to H-D. Such agreements include the Contract Manufacturing Agreement, Tax Matters Agreement, Master Services Agreement, and certain others. The amounts payable under these agreements could be significant and could prohibit or restrict us from using these funds in other aspects of our business. Additionally, if we fail to make payments under the contracts we have with H-D, it may be determined that we are in breach of contract, and we may have to pay damages or renegotiate those contracts. We can provide no assurance that we will be able to renegotiate the contracts we have with H-D or that any renegotiated terms will be favorable to us. The occurrence of such events could materially and adversely affect our business and financial condition.
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As we are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the NYSE listing standards and rely on exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements, our stockholders may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all NYSE corporate governance requirements.
As a result of the Separation, H-D owns more than 50% of the total voting power of our Common Stock and we are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the corporate governance rules of the NYSE. Under these corporate governance standards, a “controlled company” may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements. For example, controlled companies are not required to have:
•a board that is composed of a majority of “independent directors,” as defined under the NYSE rules;
•a compensation committee that is composed entirely of independent directors; and
•director nominations be made, or recommended to the full board of directors, by its independent directors, or by a nominations/governance committee that is composed entirely of independent directors.
We utilize these exemptions. Accordingly, you do not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all the corporate governance requirements of the NYSE.
We may not be successful as an independent, publicly traded company, and we will not enjoy the same benefits that we did as a wholly owned subsidiary of H-D.
The historical financial information through the Closing of the Business Combination we have included in this Form 10-K does not necessarily reflect what our financial position, results of operations or cash flows would have been had we been an independent entity during the historical periods presented. The historical costs and expenses reflected in our consolidated financial statements include an allocation for certain corporate functions historically provided by H-D, including tax, accounting, treasury, legal, human resources, compliance, insurance, sales and marketing services. The historical financial information is not necessarily indicative of what our results of operations, financial position, cash flows or costs and expenses will be in the future. We have not made pro forma adjustments to reflect many significant changes that have occurred in our cost structure, funding and operations as a result of our transition to becoming a public company, including changes in our employee base, potential increased costs associated with reduced economies of scale and increased costs associated with being a publicly traded, standalone company.
As a result of the Separation, H-D indemnifies us for certain liabilities and we indemnify H-D for certain liabilities. If we are required to act on these indemnities for the benefit of H-D, we may need to divert cash to meet those obligations and our financial results could be negatively impacted. Additionally, any indemnity from H-D may not be sufficient to insure us against the full amount of liabilities for which we may be allocated responsibility, and H-D may not be able to satisfy its indemnification obligations in the future.
Third parties may seek to hold us responsible for H-D’s liabilities. Likewise, our relationship with H-D, as a much larger company and our majority stockholder, may make us more of a target for litigation than we otherwise would be on our own. Under certain agreements entered into with H-D in connection with the Separation, we indemnify H-D for claims and losses relating to liabilities related to our business, and H-D indemnifies us for claims and losses relating to liabilities related to H-D’s business and not related to our business. However, if those liabilities are significant and we are ultimately held liable for them, we cannot assure you that we will be able to recover the full amount of our losses from H-D.
Pursuant to the Separation Agreement and certain other agreements with H-D, H-D agreed to indemnify us for certain liabilities, as discussed further in Note 16, Related Party Transactions, in our consolidated financial statements. However, third parties could also seek to hold us responsible for any of the liabilities that H-D has agreed to retain, and there can be no assurance that the indemnity from H-D will be sufficient to protect us against the full amount of such liabilities or that H-D will be able to fully satisfy its indemnification obligations. In addition, H-D’s insurers may deny coverage to us for liabilities associated with certain occurrences of indemnified liabilities prior to the Separation. Moreover, even if we ultimately succeed in recovering from H-D or such insurance providers any amounts for which we are held liable, we may be temporarily required to bear these losses. Each of these risks could negatively affect our businesses, financial position and operating results.
Some of our directors and executive officers own restricted stock units and/or stock options covering H-D common stock that fluctuate in value in accordance with the value of H-D’s share price and/or other performance metrics, which could cause conflicts of interest that could result in us not acting on opportunities we otherwise may have.
Some of our directors and executive officers own H-D restricted stock units and/or stock options that fluctuate in value in accordance with the value of H-D’s share price. In addition, some of our executive officers and directors are executive officers
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and/or directors of H-D. Ownership of restricted stock units and options that fluctuate in value in accordance with the value of H-D’s share price by our directors and officers after the Separation and the presence of executive officers or directors of H-D on our Board could create, or appear to create, conflicts of interest with respect to matters involving both us and H-D that could have different implications for H-D than they do for us. Provisions of our certificate of incorporation address corporate opportunities that are presented to our directors or officers that are also directors or officers of H-D. We cannot assure you that the provisions in our certificate of incorporation adequately address potential conflicts of interest, that potential conflicts of interest will be resolved in our favor or that we will be able to take advantage of corporate opportunities presented to individuals who are officers or directors of both us and H-D. As a result, we may be precluded from pursuing certain growth initiatives, which could adversely affect our business.
H-D holds the direct contractual relationship with many key suppliers required for us to produce our electric vehicles. Disputes between H-D and these critical suppliers may negatively impact our electric vehicle production.
Our existing and potential relationships with partners and suppliers may be affected by our relationship with H-D. We partner with and purchase from a number of suppliers with whom H-D has a direct contractual relationship. H-D’s majority ownership in us might affect our ability to develop and maintain relationships with these suppliers, including because H-D may require us to limit our relationships with them or not work with them at all. Additionally, H-D might choose not to pursue enforcement of these contracts on our behalf to preserve H-D’s relationship with the partner or supplier. Likewise, these suppliers may be less willing or unwilling to develop and maintain relationships with us, and may favor our competitors or may view us as competitors, because of our relationship with H-D.
H-D may compete with certain of our significant channel, technology and other marketing partners as well as certain of our suppliers. Pursuant to our certificate of incorporation and certain agreements that we have entered into with H-D as a result of the Separation, H-D may have the ability to impact our relationship with these suppliers, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, and our ability to pursue opportunities which may otherwise be available to us or electric vehicle production.
Risks Related to Information Technology, Intellectual Property, Data Security and Privacy
We collect and process significant information about our customers and their vehicles and are subject to various privacy, marketing and consumer protection laws.
We collect, receive, store, transmit and otherwise process different types of information about or related to a range of individuals, including our customers, riders of our electric vehicles, website visitors, users of our mobile application, our employees, job applicants and employees of other companies that we do business with (such as our vendors and suppliers). In addition to the information we collect from our customers to complete a sale or transaction, we use our electric vehicles’ onboard electronic systems to capture information about each electric vehicle’s use, such as location, charge time, battery usage, mileage and driving behavior, among other things, to aid us in providing services including electric vehicle diagnostics, repair, maintenance, insurance, roadside assistance and vehicle emergency services. Further we can, via data collection and analysis, customize and optimize the driving and riding experiences of our electric vehicles. Our customers may in the future choose not to provide this data, which may materially and negatively affect our business and our ability to properly maintain the vehicle. Possession and use of our customers’ driving behavior, electric vehicle use and other information may subject us to legislative and regulatory burdens and risks, and we will be required to comply with increasingly complex and rigorous regulatory standards enacted to protect business and personal information in the United States, Europe and elsewhere.
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A wide variety of state, federal and international laws as well as regulations, industry standards and contractual obligations apply to the collection, use, retention, protection, disclosure, transfer and other processing of personal information and other types of information. Evolving and changing definitions of personal data and personal information within the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom (the “UK”) and elsewhere, may limit or inhibit our ability to operate or expand our business and some jurisdictions require that certain types of data be retained on servers within these jurisdictions or place restrictions on the export of data to other jurisdictions. Additionally, laws, regulations, and standards covering marketing and advertising activities conducted by telephone, email, mobile devices and the Internet may be applicable to our business, such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (as implemented by the Telemarketing Sales Rule) (the “TCPA”), the Controlling the Assault of Non‐Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (the “CAN-SPAM Act”) and similar state and foreign consumer protection laws. The Federal Trade Commission and many state attorneys general are also interpreting federal and state consumer protection laws (including the Federal Trade Commission Act) as imposing standards for the online collection, use, dissemination, and security of data. In addition, by providing financing to and collecting related information from customers, we are subject to financial privacy laws such as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 and its implementing regulations (the “GLBA”), which restricts certain collection, use, disclosure and other processing of certain information and contains compliance requirements such as providing notice to individuals of privacy practices and implementing data security standards. The Federal Trade Commission updated its Safeguards Rule, which requires certain companies to implement specific safeguards to protect personal information processed in relation to providing a financial product or service, including to require certain financial institutions to report certain data security breaches to the FTC. The FTC and state attorneys general have also focused particular attention on the processing of vehicle-related and location data in recent years, which elevates the risk of our processing of such data. We are also subject to certain laws and regulations that have been enacted or proposed, such as “Right to Repair” laws, that could require us to provide third-party access to our network and/or vehicle systems. Our failure to comply with applicable laws, directives, and regulations may result in private claims or enforcement actions against us, including liabilities, fines and damage to our reputation, any of which may have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Data protection and privacy-related laws and regulations are evolving and may result in ever increasing regulatory and public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement and sanctions. For example, the State of California adopted the CCPA, and prior to that the EU (and the UK) adopted General Data Protection Regulation (the “GDPR”). These laws (and other laws that have since been enacted) impose additional regulatory obligations regarding the handling of personal data and further provide certain individual privacy rights to persons whose data is processed by covered organizations.
In the United States, the CCPA became operative on January 1, 2020 and became enforceable by the California Attorney General on July 1, 2020, along with related regulations. Additionally, the California Privacy Rights Act (the “CPRA”), which amended and expanded upon the CCPA, was passed on November 3, 2020, and became effective on January 1, 2023. The CCPA requires covered companies to, among other things, provide certain disclosures to California consumers and affords such consumers certain privacy rights such as rights to access and delete their personal information, opt out of certain sales of personal information (a concept that is defined broadly) and receive detailed information about how their personal information is collected, used and shared. The CCPA provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for certain security breaches that may increase security breach litigation. The CPRA’s amendments to the CCPA have imposed additional data protection obligations on covered companies, including certain consumer rights processes, the right to correct personal information, and opt-outs for certain uses of sensitive personal information and the sharing of personal information for targeted advertising purposes. The CPRA’s amendments also created a new enforcement bureau, the California Privacy Protection Agency. The CCPA has encouraged similar laws in other states across the country, which creates a patchwork of overlapping but different state laws. We cannot fully predict the impact of such laws, or subsequent guidance, regulations or rules on our business or operations, including those that are still in draft form, but it may increase our compliance costs and potential liability, particularly in the event of a data breach, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, including how we use personal information, our financial condition, and the results of our operations or prospects. A number of other proposals exist for new federal and state privacy legislation that, if passed, could increase our potential liability, increase our compliance costs, modify our data processing practices and materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
In the EU and UK, we are subject to the EU GDPR and applicable national supplementing laws and the UK data protection regime consisting primarily of the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the UK Data Protection Act 2018 (together referred to as the “GDPR”). The GDPR imposes stringent data protection requirements in relation to our collection, processing, sharing, disclosure, transfer and other use of personal data, some of which are different from requirements under existing United States data privacy laws.
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The GDPR generally prohibits the transfer of personal data subject to those regimes outside of the EU/UK (including to the United States) unless a lawful data transfer solution has been implemented or a data transfer derogation applies. Recent legal developments in Europe have created complexity and uncertainty regarding transfers of personal information from the EU and the UK to third countries, including the United States. As the enforcement landscape further develops, and supervisory authorities issue further guidance on international data transfers, we could suffer additional costs, complaints and/or regulatory investigations or fines; we may have to stop using certain tools and vendors and make other operational changes; we have had to and will have to implement revised standard contractual clauses for existing intragroup, customer and vendor arrangements within required time frames; and/or it could otherwise affect the manner in which we provide our services, and could adversely affect our business, operations and financial condition.
The EU and UK also have evolving privacy laws on cookies, tracking technologies, and e-marketing. In the EU and the UK, regulators are increasingly focusing on compliance with requirements in the online behavioral advertising ecosystem. In the EU and the UK, informed consent is required for the placement of most cookies or similar technologies that store information, or access information stored, on a user’s device and for direct electronic marketing. Consent is tightly defined and includes a prohibition on pre-checked consents and a requirement to obtain separate consents for each type of cookie or similar technology. If the trend of increasing enforcement by regulators of the strict approach to opt-in consent for all but essential use cases, as seen in recent guidance and decisions, continues, this could lead to substantial costs, require significant systems changes, limit the effectiveness of our marketing activities, divert the attention of our technology personnel, adversely affect our margins, and subject us to additional liabilities. In light of the complex and evolving nature of EU, EU Member State and UK privacy laws on cookies and tracking technologies, there can be no assurances that we will be successful in our efforts to comply with such laws; violations of such laws could result in regulatory investigations, fines, orders to cease/change our use of such technologies, as well as civil claims including class actions, and reputational damage.
In addition, in the EU, the Data Act came into force on January 11, 2024, laying down rules to foster a competitive data market by making data more accessible and usable. The Data Act may apply to certain data arising from the use of our connected products in the EU, and may require us to make such data available to consumers and other businesses. This may require additional compliance measures and changes to our operations and processes, and/or result in increased compliance costs and potential increases in civil claims against us, and could adversely affect our business, operations and financial condition.
Additionally, other countries outside of Europe and the United States, including countries we either operate or may in the future operate within, are considering enacting legislation implementing data protection requirements or imposing cross-border data transfer restrictions or laws requiring local data residency. For example, Brazil enacted the General Data Protection Law, New Zealand enacted the New Zealand Privacy Act, China enacted its Personal Information Protection Law, and Canada introduced the Digital Charter Implementation Act. Also, in the U.S. there has been a noticeable uptick in class actions wherein plaintiffs have utilized a variety of laws, including the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 and state wiretapping laws, in relation to companies’ use of tracking technologies, such as cookies and pixels. Such litigation may lead legislatures to consider responsive regulation. For additional information, see “We are, and may in the future be, subject to legal proceedings in the ordinary course of our business. If the outcomes of these proceedings are adverse to us, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.”
Compliance with additional laws and regulations could be expensive and result in significant penalties (for example, fines for certain breaches of the GDPR or the UK GDPR are up to the greater of €20 million/£17.5 million or 4% of total global annual turnover) and may place restrictions on the conduct of our business and the manner in which we interact with our customers. Failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations could result in lawsuits, orders to cease or change our data processing activities, regulatory enforcement notices or actions against us or other liability. For example, our misuse of or failure to secure personal information could result in violation of data privacy laws and regulations, proceedings against us by governmental entities or others, and/or result in significant liability and damage to our reputation and credibility. In addition, we may also face civil claims including representative actions and other class action type litigation (where individuals have alleged to suffered harm) potentially amounting to significant compensation or damages liabilities, as well as associated costs, diversion of internal resources, and reputational harm. These possibilities, if borne out, could have a negative impact on revenues and profits. If a third party alleges that we have violated applicable data privacy laws, we could face legal claims and damages as well as reputational harm among consumers, investors, and strategic partners.
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Although we make reasonable efforts to comply with all applicable data protection laws and regulations, our interpretations and efforts may have been or may prove to be insufficient or incorrect. We also make public statements about our use and disclosure of personal information through our privacy policy, information provided on our website and other public statements. Although we endeavor to ensure that our public statements are complete, accurate and fully implemented, we may at times fail to do so or be alleged to have failed to do so. We may be subject to potential regulatory or other legal action if such policies or statements are found to be deceptive, unfair or misrepresentative of our actual practices. In addition, from time to time, concerns may be expressed about whether our products and services compromise the privacy of our customers, riders and others. Any concerns about our data privacy and security practices (even if unfounded), or any failure, real or perceived, by us to comply with our posted privacy policies or with any legal or regulatory requirements, standards, certifications or orders or other privacy or consumer protection-related laws and regulations applicable to us, could cause our customers, riders and users to reduce their use of our products and services.
In addition, the regulatory framework for data privacy issues worldwide is currently evolving and is likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future, and it is possible that applicable laws and regulations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other rules, or our practices. Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with applicable privacy and data security laws and regulations, our privacy policies, or our privacy-related obligations to users or other third parties, or any compromise of security that results in the unauthorized access to or transfer of personal information or other customer data, may result in governmental enforcement actions, litigation or public statements against us by consumer advocacy groups or others and could cause our customers, riders and users to lose trust in us, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation and business. We may also incur significant expenses to comply with privacy, consumer protection and security standards and controls imposed by laws, regulations, industry standards or contractual obligations.
Any significant change to applicable laws, regulations or industry practices regarding the use or disclosure of our users’ data, or regarding the manner in which the express or implied consent of users for the use and disclosure of such data is obtained, or in how these applicable laws, regulations or industry practices are interpreted and enforced by state, federal and international privacy regulators, could require us to modify our services and features, possibly in a material and costly manner, may subject us to legal claims, regulatory enforcement actions and fines, and may limit our ability to develop new services and features that make use of the data that our users voluntarily share with us.
We are subject to cybersecurity risks to our various information systems and software and any material failure, weakness, interruption, cyber event, incident or breach of security could prevent us from effectively operating our business.
We are at risk for interruptions, outages and breaches of (a) operational systems, including business, financial, accounting, product development, data processing or production processes, owned by us or our third-party vendors or suppliers; (b) facility security systems, owned by us or our third-party vendors or suppliers; (c) transmission control modules or other in-product technology, owned by us or our third-party vendors or suppliers; (d) the integrated software in our electric vehicles; (e) our mobile application software; or (f) customer or rider data that we process or our third-party vendors or suppliers process on our behalf. In addition, we and our third-party vendors or suppliers that host our data may encounter attempted attacks on their networks and information systems that may take a variety of forms, including denial of service attacks, infrastructure attacks, botnets, malicious file attacks, cross-site scripting, credential abuse, phishing, social engineering, ransomware, bugs, viruses, worms, and malicious software programs. All of these types of cybersecurity incidents can give rise to a variety of losses and costs, including legal claims or proceedings (such as class actions), regulatory investigations and enforcement actions, fines and penalties, damages to reputation, significant incident response, restoration and remediation costs, and others. These incidents could also materially disrupt operational systems; result in loss of intellectual property, trade secrets, confidential information, other proprietary or competitively sensitive information and data generally (including personal information); compromise certain information of customers, employees, suppliers, riders, users or others; harm our reputation or brand; or affect the performance of transmission control modules or other in‐product technology and the integrated software in our electric vehicles.
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A cybersecurity incident could be caused by disasters, insiders (through inadvertence or with malicious intent) or malicious third parties (including nation-states or nation-state supported actors) using sophisticated, targeted methods to circumvent firewalls, encryption and other security defenses, including hacking, fraud, trickery or other forms of deception. The techniques used by threat actors change frequently, are becoming increasingly diverse and sophisticated, and may be difficult to detect for long periods of time. We receive information technology services, including cybersecurity support, from H-D through the Master Services Agreement. Although we maintain information technology measures designed to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of our information systems, and protect us against intellectual property theft, data breaches and other cybersecurity incidents, such measures will require updates and improvements, and we cannot guarantee that such measures will be adequate to detect, prevent or mitigate cybersecurity threats or incidents. The implementation, maintenance, segregation and improvement of these information systems requires significant management time, support and cost. Moreover, there are inherent risks associated with developing, improving, expanding and updating current systems, including the disruption of our data management, procurement, production execution, finance, supply chain and sales and service processes. These risks may affect our ability to manage our data and inventory, procure parts or supplies or produce, sell, deliver and service our electric powertrain solutions, adequately protect our intellectual property or achieve and maintain compliance with, or realize available benefits under, applicable laws, regulations and contracts. We cannot be sure that these information systems upon which we rely, including those of our third-party vendors or suppliers, will be effectively implemented, maintained or expanded as planned. If we do not successfully implement, maintain or expand these systems as planned, our operations may be disrupted, our ability to accurately and timely report our financial results could be impaired, and deficiencies may arise in our internal control over financial reporting, which may impact our ability to certify our financial results. Moreover, our proprietary information, confidential information, intellectual property or personal information that we hold could be compromised or misappropriated and our reputation may be adversely affected. If these systems do not operate as we expect them to, we may be required to expend significant resources to make corrections or find alternative sources for performing these functions.
A significant cybersecurity incident could impact production capability, harm our reputation, cause us to breach our contracts with other parties or subject us to regulatory actions or litigation, any of which could materially affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. In addition, while we maintain insurance coverage, our insurance coverage for cyberattacks may not be sufficient to cover all the losses, liabilities and costs we may experience as a result of a cybersecurity incident, including any disruptions resulting from such an incident, or that applicable insurance will be available to us in the future on economically reasonable terms or at all.
We also work with partners and third-party service providers or vendors that collect, store and process such data on our behalf and in connection with our products and services. There can be no assurance that any security measures that we or our third-party service providers or vendors have implemented will be fully implemented, complied with or effective in protecting our systems and information, including against current or future cybersecurity threats. While we have developed systems and processes designed to protect the availability, integrity, confidentiality and security of us and our customers’, riders’, website visitors’, employees’ and others’ data and information, our security measures or those of our third-party service providers or vendors could fail and result in security incidents, including unauthorized access to or disclosure, acquisition, encryption, modification, misuse, loss, destruction or other compromise of such data. If a compromise of such data were to occur, we may have liability under our contracts with other parties and under applicable law for damages and incur penalties and other costs to respond to, investigate and remedy such an incident. Laws in all 50 U.S. states require us to provide notice to customers, regulators, credit reporting agencies or others when certain sensitive information has been compromised as a result of a security breach. Laws outside of the U.S., including in Europe and the UK, may also require us to provide notice to individuals or other third parties. There are significant differences between the laws of the various U.S. states and other jurisdictions, and as a result compliance in the event of a widespread data breach could be complicated, in addition to being costly. Depending on the facts and circumstances of such an incident, these damages, penalties, fines and costs could be significant. Such an event could harm our reputation and result in litigation against us. Any of these results could materially adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
We may need to defend ourselves against intellectual property infringement claims, which may be time consuming and would cause us to incur substantial costs.
Companies, organizations, or individuals, including our competitors, may currently hold or obtain in the future patents, trademarks or other proprietary or intellectual property that would prevent, limit or interfere with our ability to make, use, develop, sell or market our vehicles, components or other goods and services, which could make it more difficult for us to operate our business. From time to time, we may receive communications from holders of patents, trademarks, trade secrets or other intellectual property or proprietary rights alleging that we are infringing, misappropriating, diluting or otherwise violating such rights. Such parties may bring suits against us alleging infringement or other violation of such rights, or otherwise assert their rights and urge us to take licenses to their intellectual property. While we try to avoid infringing the rights of others, we may unknowingly do so. For example, we may not be aware of existing patents or patent applications that could be pertinent to
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our business as many patent applications are filed confidentially in the United States and are not published until 18 months following the applicable filing date. In the event that a claim relating to intellectual property is asserted against us, our suppliers or our third-party licensors, or if third parties not affiliated with us hold patents that relate to our products or technology, we may need to seek licenses to such intellectual property or seek to challenge those patents. Even if we are able to obtain a license, it could be non-exclusive, thereby giving our competitors and other third parties access to the same technologies licensed to us. In addition, we may be unable to obtain these licenses on commercially reasonable terms, if at all, and our challenge of third-party patents may be unsuccessful. Litigation or other legal proceedings relating to intellectual property claims, regardless of merit, may cause us to incur significant expenses and could distract our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. Further, if we are determined to have infringed upon a third party’s intellectual property, we may be required to do one or more of the following:
•cease selling, incorporating certain components into, or using vehicles or offering goods or services that incorporate or use the intellectual property that we allegedly infringe, misappropriate, dilute or otherwise violate;
•pay substantial royalty or license fees or other damages;
•seek a license from the holder of the allegedly infringed intellectual property, which license may not be available on reasonable terms, or at all;
•redesign or reengineer our vehicles or other technology, goods or services, which may be costly, time‐consuming or impossible; or
•establish and maintain alternative branding for our products and services.
In the event of a successful claim of infringement against us and our failure or inability to obtain a license to the infringed technology or other intellectual property on acceptable terms, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, any litigation or claims, whether or not valid, could result in substantial costs, negative publicity and diversion of resources and management attention.
If we are unable to maintain, protect or enforce our rights in our proprietary technology, brands or other intellectual property, our competitive advantage, business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and negatively affected.
Our failure to obtain or maintain adequate protection of, or prevent others from unauthorized use of, our intellectual property could materially and negatively affect ourcompetitive advantage, business, financial condition and results of operations. We rely on a combination of patent, trade secret, trademark and other intellectual property laws, employee and third-party nondisclosure agreements, intellectual property licenses, and other contractual rights, to establish and protect our rights in our technology and intellectual property.
We have applied for patent protection relating to certain of our existing and proposed products, processes and services. However, we cannot assure you that any of our patent applications will issue as patents, or if they do issue, that they will be of sufficient scope or strength to provide our technologies with any meaningful protection or our business with any commercial protection. Further, once issued, the patents we own could be challenged, invalidated or circumvented by others. Some patent applications in the US are maintained in secrecy for a period of time after they are filed, and since publication of discoveries in the scientific or patent literature tends to lag behind actual discoveries by several months, we cannot be certain that we will be the first creator of inventions covered by any patent application we make or the first to file patent applications on such inventions. Further, we cannot assure you that competitors will not infringe our patents, or that we will have adequate resources to enforce our patents.
We also rely on unpatented proprietary technology. It is possible that others will independently develop the same or similar technology or otherwise obtain access to our unpatented technology. To protect our trade secrets and other proprietary information, our policy is to require that relevant employees, consultants, advisors and collaborators enter into confidentiality agreements. We cannot assure you that these agreements will provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information in the event of any unauthorized use, misappropriation or disclosure of such trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information. If we are unable to maintain the proprietary nature of our technologies, our competitive position, business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and negatively affected.
We rely on our trademarks, trade names, and brand names to distinguish our products from those of our competitors and have registered or applied to register certain of these trademarks. We cannot assure you that our trademark applications will be approved. Third parties may also oppose our trademark applications, or otherwise challenge our use of our trademarks. In the event that our trademarks are successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand our products, which could result in loss of brand recognition, and could require us to devote resources to advertising and marketing new brands. Further, we cannot assure you that competitors will not infringe our trademarks, or that we will have adequate resources to enforce our trademarks.
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Despite our efforts to protect our intellectual property, third parties may attempt to copy or otherwise obtain and use our intellectual property or seek court declarations that our intellectual property is invalid or unenforceable, or that they do not infringe upon our intellectual property. Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly, and the steps we have taken or may take in the future in an effort to prevent infringement or misappropriation may not be successful. From time to time, we may have to resort to litigation to enforce our intellectual property, which could result in substantial costs and diversion of our resources.
Patent, trademark, trade secret and other intellectual property laws vary significantly throughout the world. A number of foreign countries do not protect intellectual property to the same extent as they are protected in the United States. Therefore, our intellectual property may not be as strong or as easily enforced outside of the United States. Failure to adequately protect our intellectual property could result in our competitors offering similar products, potentially resulting in the loss of some of our competitive advantage and a decrease in our revenue which would adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results.
Risks Related to Other Legal, Regulatory and Tax Matters
We are subject to substantial regulation and unfavorable changes to, or failure by us to comply with, current or future regulations could materially and negatively affect our business and operating results. Increased environmental, safety, emissions or other regulations, including those intended to address climate change, may result in higher costs, cash expenditures and/or sales restrictions.
Our electric vehicles, and the sale of motorcycles and electric balance bikes for kids in general, are subject to substantial regulation under international, federal, state and local laws. We expect to incur significant costs in complying with these regulations. Regulations related to the electric vehicle industry and alternative energy are currently evolving and we face risks associated with changes to these regulations, such as:
•the imposition of a carbon tax or the introduction of a cap-and-trade system on electric utilities, either of which could increase the cost of electricity and thereby the cost of operating an electric vehicle;
•new state regulations of electric vehicles fees could discourage consumer demand for electric vehicles;
•the increase of subsidies for alternative fuels such as corn and ethanol could reduce the operating cost of vehicles that use such alternative fuels and gasoline, and thereby reduce the appeal of electric vehicles;
•changes to the regulations governing the sourcing, assembly, transportation and labeling of battery cells (such as the Batteries Regulation in the EU and related secondary legislation) could increase the cost of battery cells or make such commodities more difficult to obtain;
•changes in regulation, for example relating to the noise required to be emitted by electric vehicles, may impact the design or function of electric vehicles, and thereby lead to decreased consumer appeal;
•changes in regulations governing the range and miles per gallon of gasoline-equivalent calculations could lower our electric vehicles’ ratings, making electric vehicles less appealing to consumers; and
•changes in the U.S. NHTSA Corporate Average Fuel Economy (“CAFE”) standards could reduce new business opportunities for our business.