Nikola (NASDAQ: NKLA) and General Motors (NYSE: GM) graced headlines as they announced their partnership to start rolling out Nikola's trucks, be their new deal excitement was not made to last. Hindenburg Research stepped in with claims of fraud and deception coming from the electric semi-truck maker.
Hindenburg claimed Nikola's CEO Trevor Milton made false claims of having proprietary tech, and that the vehicles in their videos were not functional. Nikola fired back, saying Hindenburg's claims were false and designed specifically to undercut them just as their stock prices rose from their deal with GM. The deal is still set to close on September 30, but the allegations from Hindenburg have gone far enough to spark a probe from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Now, it seems while Nikola is standing by their stance that Hindenburg's claims are false, they have admitted that their truck in a promotional ad was not functional at the time, but of course, there is more to it than just that.
Hindenburg showed evidence that Nikola towed their truck to a long, low grade hill and simply filmed the truck rolling down it. While this was true, Nikola was quick to call that claim a lie, instead saying that the ad, titled "Nikola On Electric Semi Truck In Motion", was just that: "in motion." The defense they provided was that they never explicitly stated the truck was moving under its own propulsion, and therefore their ad was not deceptive.
Throughout it all, GM is still standing by their deal. Under the deal, GM will be supplying engineering services, production capacity, and even batteries and fuel cells to Nikola. In return, Nikola will be sending GM over $4 billon in benefits over the life of the contract, including from newly issued shares of Nikola.
According to a quote in Ars Technica from Guidehouse auto industry analysis Sam Abuelsamid, there is no downside for GM in this deal. Its seems money will be flowing to GM throughout the deal, with Nikola paying $700 million to cover the cost of building manufacturing for their Badger truck, $2 billion in stock, and GM getting to keep 80% of the valuable electric vehicle regulatory credits from the trucks. GM likely won't see a downside to this deal, allegations and claims from Hindenburg notwithstanding.