KRMG Exclusive: Governor Stitt on the Canoo EV manufacturing facility coming to NE Oklahoma

TULSA — Thursday, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt officially announced that EV manufacturer Canoo will locate a sizeable manufacturing facility at the Mid-America Industrial Park near Pryor, Oklahoma.

He spoke with KRMG in an exclusive one-on-one interview shortly before attending Thursday’s news conference, in which he spoke about the effort he and his team made to land the Canoo facility, which the company calls a “micro-megafactory.”

Canoo’s concept is essentially a universal bottom half, which it calls the “skateboard,” on which can sit a number of different body types.

The company hopes to overturn the traditional auto sales paradigm to some degree, and Gov. Stitt told KRMG he thinks they’ll win the war for market share.

“They’re gonna kick Elon’s rear, and Tesla’s rear,” he said. “Canoo is the new electric vehicle that everybody’s going to be talking about.”

What’s more, the facility will bring much more to the state beyond the expected 2,000 or so high-paying jobs its expected to generate.

“We’re going to get battery companies, and window companies. And all the other current, existing companies in the state of Oklahoma are going to benefit from a megafactory being located in our state,” the governor told KRMG.

Canoo hopes to be turning EVs out from the Pryor facility by 2023.

To see the vehicles, visit the Canoo website.

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