A British electric car and van maker once described as the future of the UK automotive industry has entered into administration putting around 400 jobs at risk.

Oxfordshire-based Arrival has announced it has been placed into administration just a week after being de-listed from the Nasdaq stock exchange.

Once one of the shining start-ups of the electric vehicle segment, Arrival was founded back in 2015 by the Russian billionaire and former government minister Denis Sverdlov.

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It had its headquarters in Banbury alongside nine further sites across the country including a production plant in Bicester.

The company acquired Unit 6 at Network @ Link 9 in Bicester on a 10-year lease in 2020 with plans to be operational by 2021 and start production in 2022.

In October 2022, Arrival produced its first electric van at the plant to be used for testing purposes.

The Royal Mail trialled nine of its vehicles in 2018 while in 2020 Hyundai and Kia announced a $100m (£85m) investment plan with the firm to help develop next-generation electric vehicles.

Arrival was also seen as one of the UK’s most promising tech firms and was invited to present at the Global Investment Summit in 2021.

It currently employs 400 people worldwide.

The business was estimated to be worth £9bn just three years ago.

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In January 2023, the company cut 800 UK jobs to reduce costs while seeking extra funding and planning to expand in the US to take advantage of green energy subsidies.

Now, however, the firm has appointed EY as administrators after failing to rectify issues.

This latest announcement comes at the loss of 39 employees, according to EY, while a remaining 133 staff are ‘being retained to assist with the sale of the Company’s business and its asset’.

In a statement, EY said: “The Group’s liquidity position has been impacted by challenging market and macroeconomic conditions resulting in delays in getting the Group’s products to market.

“As such, the Joint Administrators are now exploring options for the sale of the business and assets of the Companies, including its electric vehicle platforms, software, intellectual property and R&D assets, for the benefit of creditors.”

To date, more than $1.5bn has been invested in the firm, which aimed to specialise in ‘last-mile delivery vans, intracity buses and ride-sharing passenger cars’.

In a statement, Arrival said: “All of Arrival’s other subsidiaries will continue their activities as usual outside of the administration process.

“The administrators are now exploring options for the sale of the business and assets of the companies, including the electric vehicle platform, software, intellectual property and R&D assets, for the benefit of creditors.”