I guess Think, the little Norwegian EV-maker, is some kind of a phoenix. This company has declared itself insolvent 4 times, and 4 times one guy with deep pockets come to rescue it at the last minute. Today’s man is Boris Zingarevich, a Russian industrialist. The man’s not new to electric mobility. He’s been involved for many years, since he started to invest in Ener1, the battery company which supplies Think, in 2002. With Ener1 a shareholder of Think, M. Zingarevich was fully aware of Think’s troubles.

All EV fans can only wish him the best, yet we don’t know how he will manage to turn Think into a profitable company. The only thing we know for sure is that it will require a very substantial investment to begin with. Think currently produces cars in Elkhart, Ind. in a facility that has kept on running normally despite the trouble at the Norwegian company which owns Think America. This should continue as it is, but the future isn’t as clear in Europe. Think had stopped making cars by itself a couple years ago, and it had hired Finnish contract manufacturer Valmet Automotive to build cars on his behalf. Production stopped earlier this year, it is not expected to restart before next year.

A new company has been created, Electric Mobility Solutions, it will start organizing a new sales and service structure, before relaunching production in about 6 months. We may expect a refined version of the existing car, and that is good news. But a lower pricetag would also help. The Think currently retails for more than $30,000. That’s a lot of money for such a small car.