Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
U.S. largest retailer Walmart inked, in mid 2022, an agreement to buy 4,500 Lifestyle Delivery Vehicles (LDVs) from the startup Canoo. Since then, Walmart has been testing both the LDV130 and LDV190 models, and more recently, Canoo’s new, larger LDV300 model as well.
In a webinar at the Emerging Growth Conference, the company’s CFO Greg Ethridge reaffirmed that Canoo has been working “consistently” with Walmart over the last two years while adding that their growth “creates a massive amount of opportunity” for the EV manufacturer.
“On the Walmart side, I know we’ve been head down, very focused. We announced the Walmart partnership back in the middle of 2022. We have worked with Walmart literally consistently since that time,” he stated.
“They have continued to grow their business dramatically on the e-commerce side. But we’ve been very quiet and methodically working with the team there, and we’re continuing to do that,” Ethridge added.
Walmart raised its annual forecast last week after reporting nearly a 5% increase in quarterly revenue, driven by higher foot traffic in its stores and online, as well as stronger sales in non-grocery categories.
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“We’ve tested the LDV 130, the [LDV] 190 multiple times. I think we have over 10,000 miles of test miles with them. Their business continues to grow, which creates a massive amount of opportunity for us over time,” the CFO said before mentioning a recent testing in Bentonville.
“We recently showcased our vehicle in Bentonville with the Walmart team. And I think the feedback was pretty positive. So we’re really excited about the future of this partnership and where it can go beyond the vehicle, because we are looking at ourselves again,” Ethridge disclosed.
Later in the keynote, and while covering the safety topic, the CFO stated that there have been no accidents with the vehicles driven by the Walmart team for testing in “over about 10,000 miles”.
During the second quarter earnings call held on August 14, Canoo CEO Tony Aquila said the companies have completed “2 years of extensive testing and refining of specifications and use cases”.
When asked by an analyst about the timeline to announce the updates on the production timeline for the Walmart dedicated vehicles, the CEO said Canoo didn’t unveil much as the company lets “clients decide what they communicate”.
Written by Cláudio Afonso | LinkedIn | X
