Discovery’s “Diesel Brothers” did wonders to fire up excitement over modified and powerful pickup trucks for as long as the show aired. The show’s stars – Dave ‘Heavy D’ Sparks and David ‘Diesel Dave’ Kiley – were so passionate about their craft that they didn’t take long before becoming known names in the automotive industry, plus their work as YouTubers also helped them to cement their brand.
Though the show was eventually canceled, the two friends have continued working on other exciting automotive projects, such as Heavy D’s sustainable car-builder company EMBR Motors. However, this project was pushed to the center of controversy in early 2024, when it was revealed that Heavy D was being sued by their partner Nikola Corporation over his connection to a businessman once involved in the company.
So what’s the issue between Heavy D and Nikola, and was he able to get out of the legal problems well? Stay here to find out!
Contents
How Everything Went Down
While Heavy D is known for getting into lots of car projects to feature on his YouTube channel and other social media, his involvement with Nikola Corporation was far different from those. As Dave Sparks admitted in a video from February 2024, he‘s been collaborating with the company for several years, doing his best to promote Nikola’s Badger, a hydrogen-electric pickup truck the prototype of which had been developed by the company, alongside many other promising vehicles with similar technology.
By mid-2020, Nikola’s stocks were rising non-stop as the company opened pre-orders for its Badger pickup, despite having no prototype ready yet. Fast forward to a couple of months later, the situation for Nikola was drastically different, as its then chief executive officer (CEO) and founder Trevor Milton was accused of fraudulently inflating the company’s stocks, among other things, which led to Nikola’s stocks spiraling down.
In the meantime, a deal Nikola Corporation had with General Motors fell apart, and the company dropped the Badger project altogether. Later on, Milton resigned from the company and was investigated, resulting in a four-year jail sentence in late 2023.
Nonetheless, those unfortunate situations didn’t discourage Heavy D from wanting the Badger, keeping his connection to both Nikola and Milton while he formed his company EMBR Motors.
What Was The Issue About?
InFebruary 2024, both Heavy D and Nikola Corporation announced that EMBR Motors had purchased the Badger. The deal included transferring the Badger and any of its assets to EMBR, which is co-owned by Sparks’ attorney Cole Cannon. However, Nikola only acquiesced to giving its name to the Badger, but not to any other product subsequently produced by EMBR Motors.
With that being said, Nikola isn’t content about his association with Trevor Milton, making it clear in the agreement with EMBR that his involvement with the Badger was out of the question. Nevertheless, not only was Heavy D still in contact with Milton but was also nominated by him to take one of the company’s available board spots, which wasn’t taken lightly by Nikola.
In a statement, the company accused Milton of using Heavy D and other board nominees such as Cannon, to regain control of the company through Miton’s company M&M Residual, LLC, which currently holds some stakes in Nikola despite the former CEO’s estrangement.
It all resulted in Nikola filing a lawsuit in which they mention Sparks, Cannon, and a couple of other men whom they described as adding ‘no skills or experience’ to the company’s board. The company also noted that Milton still owed Nikola several millions, as ordered in his sentence.
Aftermath
Shortly before Nikola Corporation released its rejection of Dave Sparks and other nominees, YouTube released a video in which he talked about the Badger and the process of purchasing the project, and in which D revealed that he’d been friends with Milton, and planned on taking one of the board seats of Nikola to push the company forward. While he didn’t affirm that Milton had anything to do with his purchase of the Badger, his eventual nomination to Nikola’s board by Milton’s entity directly linked him to the former CEO, leading to a breach of contract with Nikola.
Though details of any courtroom happenings are unknown, Sparks, Cole Cannon, and the other former nominees eventually desisted from taking any board seats at Nikola. According to a segment on EMBR’s website from April, the claims against their company had been ‘dismissed’ and were found not liable for the claims. On top of that, the company also insisted on having no relation to Milton or his entity M&M Residual, LLC.
While the scandal surrounding the lawsuit and further claims from Milton’s side against the company for ‘potential fraud’ could have damaged Nikola’s reputation further, the truth is that the company’s stocks hit a new high during the time the lawsuit proceeded.
What Is The Badger?
Even though the scandal surrounding Nikola Corporation and Trevor Milton put lots of attention over the Badger, it wasn’t a secret that Heavy D had long been interested in turning that project into a reality. In early 2020, Heavy D and the then-still-CEO of Nikola, Trevor Milton, teamed up to create social media content around the Badger pickup truck, and were even featured in MotorTrend promoting it.
Back in the day, Nikola still hadn’t built a prototype of the Badger, but promised that the hydrogen-electric powered car would have a 300-mile range and lots of terrain versatility, meaning it would be fit to run on the streets or in the countryside.
In their MotorTrend article, both Dave Sparks and Milton promised that a Badger prototype would be introduced in September of that year, though that didn’t happen considering the legal issues Nikola saw itself involved. However, in 2024, Sparks affirmed that the Badger prototype indeed existed, and was one of the vehicles he had just purchased from Nikola.
With that being said, Heavy D’s involvement with Nikola raised eyebrows at the time, as he and Dave Diesel had been found guilty of violating Utah’s Clean Air Act, after removing pollution devices from their modified vehicles. Nevertheless, Heavy D’s apparent lack of interest in building sustainable-fueled cars didn’t seem to deter his relationship with Milton, and his future deal with Nikola.
What Will Happen Now?
Now that the legal issue involving Dave Sparks and EMBR Motors is over, it’s unclear what the future of Nikola Badger will be. As seen on EMBR’s website, no project from the company had officially been launched by late 2024, though that isn’t surprising considering that Sparks had admitted earlier that year that he couldn’t assure his audience what the Badger will become, or how his company will continue to develop the project.
Regardless of that, Sparks seemed highly excited when he unveiled his deal to develop the Badger, meaning that there are still possibilities of the project taking off, and at least making it to market.
