Before the company trimmed its work force, the dot-com employed about 250 people locally at a Sacramento call center and an Elk Grove vehicle repair and certification center. IMotors never disclosed how many jobs it cut in Sacramento last month. Before the layoffs, it employed 700 companywide. Calls to iMotors were not returned.
Consumers are reluctant to buy new cars online even though they know what they're getting.
In March, iMotors scaled back operations to focus only on the most promising markets. But this month, venture capitalists who had backed the company reportedly became nervous and withdrew support. That is so unfortunate. I'm sorry to see them go. The company also had dealt with the perceived risk of buying online by offering consumers strong guarantees and establishing refurbishing centers that inspected, reconditioned, tested and certified the used cars.