Obrist’s three subsidiaries owe about $37 million after its gas-powered Tesla range-extender failed to reach production. The parent company remains active.
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Obrist, an Austrian engineering firm best known for modifying Tesla vehicles with gas-powered range extenders, has filed for bankruptcy after spending more than a decade trying to bring its HyperHybrid technology to market.
The company’s two Austrian subsidiaries and German sales arm are insolvent with combined debts of roughly €31.8 million, or about $37 million, according to Electrek, a trade publication covering the electric-vehicle industry.
Obrist Powertrain GmbH and Obrist Technologies GmbH, both based in Lustenau, Austria, filed for bankruptcy in late September with the Feldkirch Regional Court in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg.
Obrist Powertrain, the unit responsible for the HyperHybrid system, owes roughly €18.85 million ($21.9 million) to 34 creditors and had been reduced to nine employees by the time of the bankruptcy filing.
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Obrist Technologies, which held patents related to methanol production and carbon-capture technology, owes about €6.08 million ($7.1 million) to 10 creditors and has no remaining employees.
The group’s German sales arm, Lindau-based Obrist DE, is also insolvent, with liabilities of approximately €6.8 million ($7.9 million).
The companies told the court that neither restructuring nor continued operations was feasible and agreed to shut down immediately.