At the very least they are getting an aesthetically pleasing exterior design and a ready email list of potential buyers. And GM is capable of filling any vaporware gaps.
I share your opinion on the hydrogen semi truck though.
>At the very least they are getting an aesthetically pleasing exterior design and a ready email list of potential buyers.
Is a pickup truck exterior design and a customer list worth the 3 billion in market cap that GM lost since the news broke?
GM may not take a monetary damage from dealing with Nikola, but they will still suffer a reputation damage. If and when Nikola folds, GM's management will be seen as hilariously incompetent for not doing the proper due diligence, and the market will price that in accordingly.
GM closed last week at $30.00.
GM closed this week at $30.46.
In between those two times, the $NKLA deal was announced on Tuesday and GM shot up a bit. Then Hindenburg published and GM sank to only a small gain on the week.
You can’t have GM take the $3B W on the $NKLA news and then complain about the $3B loss that is paired with it when the details are better understood.
If a company approached you and offered to give you $2B in shares, $0.7B in capex, and a book of cost-plus orders that uses your technology, how much due diligence is required/appropriate? “GM takes $2B stake in $NKLA” usually means they brought money to the table. In this case, it literally means they were given it and agreed to take it.
Or maybe giving the GM stake was just another smoke and mirrors bit on Nikola's part so they could claim a high profile "investor".