“The factory is up and running and the cars are rolling out,” said Montler, who has 30 years of executive management experience in the automotive and other industries.
“You learn in the car business that once you get the first 30 out there’s always a couple changes you need to make,” he added. “You just want to make sure [the changes] aren’t major.”
Once the initial fleet of Comets is operating to standard, Montler said Pangea will begin manufacturing vehicles on a larger scale. The company has committed to producing 3,000 Comets by next year.
While the bulk of Pangea’s manufacturing process currently takes place in the Philippines, Montler said the company does plan on building a factory in Vancouver.
“It’s just a matter of doing one thing first and then the next,” he said. “We’re getting more and more interest [in our products] here in the United States, so that’s good.”
Global Electric Transportation
To help support the growth of Pangea, Montler said that Global Electric Transportation – better known as “GET” – is moving its worldwide headquarters from Hong Kong to Vancouver within the next 30 days.
“GET was the sales arm of Pangea, so we’ve always been closely aligned,” he said. “[The two companies are] just getting closer as time goes forward. It’s a natural transition and easier for investors to understand.”
Today, GET pegs itself as an “innovative mobility management company that aims to revolutionize the transport landscape” by offering an array of transportation services – things like mobile branding, centralized fleet management, driver training, infrastructure consulting, to even operating a cashless fare system.
“The goal is to be able to manage transportation more efficiently – start getting rid of congestion, start really looking at sustainability and carbon footprints,” said Montler. “[This is more than] taking a gas vehicle and replacing it with an electric vehicle. This, by the time we are done, will be the largest deployment of electric vehicles in the world in a managed system and nothing else is close.”
Currently, GET has about 100 employees in the Philippines, while Pangea employs 30 and another 10 in Vancouver. With the relocation of GET’s headquarters, roughly 20 jobs will move from Hong Kong to Vancouver.
Long-term, Montler anticipated that there will be “a few hundred jobs” in Clark County between the two companies.
Change in leadership
It wasn’t until recently that Montler took on the role of acting CEO at Pangea. That role used to belong to Montler’s business partner, Michael Hippert.
Despite the change in leadership, Montler said he doesn’t foresee any changes in the company’s direction.
“Mike has other companies he’s involved in (in addition to Pangea) and so he has gone on to focus on those interests right now,” he said. “But he’s still involved with us. He’s still on the board and still a part of what’s going on.”
When asked if Pangea will name a new CEO in the future, Montler said, “I think eventually there will be a new one that comes in. It will probably take some time. Right now, it’s just a matter of getting the company to the point to where it’s easier to handle.
“It’s full speed ahead,” he concluded.
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