Mission Motors, which was founded in San Francisco in 2007 to make performance electric motorcycles has ended it's quest and CEO Mark Seegar filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month.
According to published reports, APPLE is being blamed for the demise of Mission due to it's poaching key employees. Former Chief Executive Derek Kaufman said, "
"Mission had a great group of engineers, specifically electric drive expertise," Kaufman said. "Apple knew that - they wanted it, and they went and got it." [...] Apple never tried to acquire Mission Motors, Kaufman said. But the engineering team, specializing in hardware and software for electric drive systems, including algorithms for battery charging and cooling, offered Apple a range of expertise to draw from.
At least two Mission employees joined Apple in 2012, according to LinkedIn profiles. Over the past year, people with knowledge of Mission estimate about a half dozen engineers moved to Apple.
Reuters reports that: "Infield Capital, the largest investor which now controls the company, is in talks with parties which may be interested in acquiring the remaining Mission Motors assets, including designs for components and software, a patent portfolio, and a battery lab, said Bill Perry, a venture adviser at the firm."