Recently Aptera announced they have ordered major components to build 40 production vehicles. This may not sound like many (especially since they have nearly 50,000 reservations), but this is a major milestone for the company. Aptera has existed in some form for nearly 20 years, never having come this close to shipping a vehicle before. Now they have only 1 major certification left and are ramping up to build them at their facility in Carlsbad, CA.

Yes, it's notable that they mean "production" in the sense of 40 vehicles rather than 40 models or model variants. It's close to prototype quantities rather than production; US law allows the military to build up to 10% as part of "low rate initial production".

Do you have any personal stake in the enterprise?