Malcolm Bricklin’s next bright idea
1971: Creates FasTrack, a family-oriented racetrack where unsold 360s can be raced against the clock
1972: Hires noted car designer Herb Grasse to draw what will become the Bricklin SV-1, a V-8-powered gull-wing sports car; embarks raising money to engineer the car
1973: Starts Bricklin Vehicle Corp.; builds around Two,800 cars before production completes in Fresh Brunswick, Canada, in late 1975
1982: Takes over distribution of the Fiat X1/9 and one hundred twenty four Spider after Fiat pulls out of the U.S.
1985: Imports $Three,990 Yugo, a license-built Fiat, from Yugoslavia. Sales begin off strong but fade prompt as quality and reliability problems surface. Sells the company in 1988.
1995: Develops EV Warrior electrified bicycle with former Hughes Aircraft Chairman Malcolm Currie; sales begin at new-car dealers; Lee Iacocca buys the company.
2003: Forms Visionary Vehicles and starts looking globally for an entry-level car to import to the U.S.; signs a deal with China’s Chery Automobile Co. to be the U.S distributor of Chery cars. The deal falls apart in 2006; lawsuits are filed on at least three continents; no cars are delivered.
2017: Creates Bricklin Group and commences pitching dealers to invest in a fresh kind of art gallery and a fresh 3-wheeled electrical car, the Bricklin 3EV.
DETROIT –Malcolm Bricklin has been pretty quiet since a high-profile two thousand four quest to sell Chinese cars in the U.S. skidded into court in a slew of lawsuits, some of which are still being litigated.
The man – who was once described as having a mind that works like a machine gun – is now seventy eight and relies on a cane to get around. But he is pulling the trigger again with a plan to turn high-end car dealers into high-end art dealers.
Bricklin wants dealers to give him $Two million. For that sum, they`ll get stock in his company and have the rights to sell two things:
1. From their stores, the Bricklin 3EV, a $25,000, three-wheeled, battery-powered two-seater. The vehicle, Bricklin claims, could be ready for sale in two years. Customers, he said, will «test drive» the ritzy-looking vehicle using virtual reality machines installed in a «pod» on dealers` used-car lots. That pod, by the way, looks a bit like the saucer-shaped ship from the campy 1960s TV showcase «Lost in Space.»
Two. From a separate gallery away from the dealership, high-end artwork by known artists, works that have a ensured value. And money is routed to the artists when the works are resold.
Is there a catch? Well, yeah. This is Bricklin we`re talking about.
Dealers can`t just invest in the car. They have to pony up $Two million for both the car and the art gallery, or no deal, Bricklin said.
No one but Bricklin could desire up something like this and get dealers not only to listen but to invest. The very first check from a Fresh York dealer has been deposited. Bricklin said four other dealers are on board. He needs ninety five more dealers to buy in to fund the $200 million project.
But if you know Bricklin, this is what he does. And the only question is the same old question: Can he pull it off?
Dan Panoz, who runs Panoz Engineering Services, in Hoschton, Ga., about ninety minutes northeast of Atlanta, has done some preliminary engineering and design work for Bricklin`s three-wheeled car.
The company, Panoz said, is not yet under contract to finish the project for Bricklin. But his clothing, part of a group of companies affiliated with race car designer and engineer Don Panoz, who is Dan Panoz`s father, could manage the project and have the Bricklin 3EV ready by 2019.
«It`s taut, and it is a shove,» said Dan Panoz. «Absolutely it can be done in two years, but not with a lot of product switches.»
Panoz said he doesn`t get the feelng Bricklin will make many switches. «He has a direction he wants to take us in,» he said. «He is an old-school go-getter, and he`s aggressive in the area he wants to go into.»
Bricklin visited Automotive News last week and reminisced about a long career in the auto industry: a six decade, pothole-filled journey that has seen him several times win and then lose big fortunes, many financed by new-car dealers.
No chapter in Bricklin`s unorthodox life has been by the book. That includes his begin in business in Orlando with a chain of hardware stores he founded when he was slightly out of his teenagers and later sold for a sum that reportedly made him a millionaire.
In the mid-1960s, Bricklin, along with business playmate Harvey Lamm, founded Subaru of America, no effortless feat. Fuji Strong Industries, as Subaru of America`s parent company was then known, felt its vehicles were not right for America and did not want to begin U.S. operations until it had a suitable car.
But Bricklin, using his considerable energy, charm and charisma, persuaded Fuji executives otherwise. Bricklin counts Subaru as one of his proudest achievements. It is celebrating its 50th year in America amid record sales.
After exiting Subaru, Bricklin`s charisma and sales abilities persuaded the flamboyant premier of Fresh Brunswick, Canada, Richard Hatfield, to finance a sports car to take on the Chevrolet Corvette.
The made-in-Canada Bricklin SV-1 appeared in one thousand nine hundred seventy four with sexy gull-wing doors, a roaring American Motors 360-cubic-inch V-8 engine and more problems than an algebra book. After just more than Two,800 cars were built, the project died when Fresh Brunswick residents pressured Hatfield into cutting off funding to help fix the car`s technical and cosmetic problems. The SV-1 escapade left Bricklin practically broke. No money, no problem for Bricklin. A few years later, he was back with fresh plans.
His other projects included taking over distribution of Fiat`s one hundred twenty four Spider and X1/9 in the 1980s and importing the $Trio,990 Yugo subcompact. He also built and sold electrified bicycles in the 1990s. A decade ago came the failed effort to sell Chinese-built Chery automobiles in the United States. The deal collapsed, and all the dealers who anteed up were given refunds, Bricklin says.
The art and the car deal
Bricklin, who lives in Monroe, N.Y., two hours north of Manhattan, said he became interested in the business aspect of the art world when his wifey took up painting after the Sept. Eleven terrorist attacks.
But he quickly realized that the art world is an inefficient business and a risky investment for art buyers. So he embarked thinking like a car dealer and dreamed to expand inventory for the sellers and lower risk for the buyers.
«If I had one hundred galleries in the United States that would sell art from $Ten,000 and up and connected them all with a monitor, so when you walked into any of the galleries you would not only see the twenty artists in that gallery, you would see the Two,000 artists, I would have $1 billion worth of inventory,» Bricklin said.
He commenced speaking with luxury car dealers about investing in his art gallery idea and then realized that buyers of high-end cars are also frequently art aficionados. «I determined that car dealers should be the ones that invested,» said Bricklin. «High-end cars and high-end art indeed do go together.»
Bill Prior, who has been working with Bricklin on and off for three decades, is again on the payroll of Visionary Vehicles, the Bricklin company that is rolling out the project.
«Dealers are under a big amount of pressure,» said Prior, «from legislators, regulators, customer advocates, fresh market entrants and even from fresh technology. On top of that, they have the pressures of plateauing new-car sales and declining margins. The cost to create and keep a customer is the only thing that is actually accelerating.»
The art connection to the Bricklin 3EV is, Prior said, a way for dealers to «diversify their portfolios. And bring some joy back into the automobile business.» Bricklin said he doesn`t expect his car to share showroom space with existing brands, hence the need for the parking lot pod. «Car manufacturers are not blessed about another brand in their showroom. We came up with an idea to put a pod in the used-car lot. You will sit in the seat, and you will be able to drive the car on any road in the world,» Bricklin said.
What makes this deal different, according to Bricklin, is that he is applying all the lessons, from his successes and especially his failures, to this project. During Bricklin`s visit to Automotive News, he reeled off a list of experienced auto industry executives he said are involved the project. That list includes Ron Harbour, the factory efficiency guru whose influential Harbour Report helped automakers lower production costs.
Today, Harbour`s business, Harbour Consulting, is possessed by global consulting rigid Oliver Wyman, where he is a fucking partner. Harbour confirmed that he has had informal discussions with Bricklin on his Bricklin 3EV project but said he is not a Bricklin employee – despite being listed by Bricklin as part of the Visionary Vehicles team. Harbour said any work he does in an official capacity would be part of a contract with Oliver Wyman.
Meantime, Brian Miller, dealer principal of Manhattan Motorcars, a high-end store that sells exotic makes with price tags deep into the six figures, confirmed he has invested in Bricklin`s art and cars project. And remarkably, he doesn`t seem to care if the Bricklin EV3 comes out on time.
«The art kind of intrigued me. I think it`s a cool idea. The car kind of got thrown in. The cars, whatever. When they come, that`ll be excellent. We`ll attempt to sell some, but the art is truly how I got involved,» said Miller.
«I think if he can pull off what he wants to do, with his business plan, he`ll be the largest art distributor in the country, and it will expose art to a lot of people who may want to buy art but are a little intimidated and don`t know how to break in. Malcolm has a lot of novel ideas. He thinks out of the box.»
1971: Creates FasTrack, a family-oriented racetrack where unsold 360s can be raced against the clock
1972: Hires noted car designer Herb Grasse to draw what will become the Bricklin SV-1, a V-8-powered gull-wing sports car; commences raising money to engineer the car
1973: Starts Bricklin Vehicle Corp.; builds around Two,800 cars before production completes in Fresh Brunswick, Canada, in late 1975
1982: Takes over distribution of the Fiat X1/9 and one hundred twenty four Spider after Fiat pulls out of the U.S.
1985: Imports $Trio,990 Yugo, a license-built Fiat, from Yugoslavia. Sales begin off strong but fade prompt as quality and reliability problems surface. Sells the company in 1988.
1995: Develops EV Warrior electrical bicycle with former Hughes Aircraft Chairman Malcolm Currie; sales begin at new-car dealers; Lee Iacocca buys the company.
2003: Forms Visionary Vehicles and starts looking globally for an entry-level car to import to the U.S.; signs a deal with China’s Chery Automobile Co. to be the U.S distributor of Chery cars. The deal falls apart in 2006; lawsuits are filed on at least three continents; no cars are delivered.
2017: Creates Bricklin Group and embarks pitching dealers to invest in a fresh kind of art gallery and a fresh 3-wheeled electrical car, the Bricklin 3EV.
Malcolm Bricklin s next bright idea
Malcolm Bricklin’s next bright idea
1971: Creates FasTrack, a family-oriented racetrack where unsold 360s can be raced against the clock
1972: Hires noted car designer Herb Grasse to draw what will become the Bricklin SV-1, a V-8-powered gull-wing sports car; embarks raising money to engineer the car
1973: Starts Bricklin Vehicle Corp.; builds around Two,800 cars before production finishes in Fresh Brunswick, Canada, in late 1975
1982: Takes over distribution of the Fiat X1/9 and one hundred twenty four Spider after Fiat pulls out of the U.S.
1985: Imports $Trio,990 Yugo, a license-built Fiat, from Yugoslavia. Sales commence off strong but fade quick as quality and reliability problems surface. Sells the company in 1988.
1995: Develops EV Warrior electrified bicycle with former Hughes Aircraft Chairman Malcolm Currie; sales begin at new-car dealers; Lee Iacocca buys the company.
2003: Forms Visionary Vehicles and commences looking globally for an entry-level car to import to the U.S.; signs a deal with China’s Chery Automobile Co. to be the U.S distributor of Chery cars. The deal falls apart in 2006; lawsuits are filed on at least three continents; no cars are delivered.
2017: Creates Bricklin Group and embarks pitching dealers to invest in a fresh kind of art gallery and a fresh 3-wheeled electrical car, the Bricklin 3EV.
DETROIT –Malcolm Bricklin has been pretty quiet since a high-profile two thousand four quest to sell Chinese cars in the U.S. skidded into court in a slew of lawsuits, some of which are still being litigated.
The man – who was once described as having a mind that works like a machine gun – is now seventy eight and relies on a cane to get around. But he is pulling the trigger again with a plan to turn high-end car dealers into high-end art dealers.
Bricklin wants dealers to give him $Two million. For that sum, they`ll get stock in his company and have the rights to sell two things:
1. From their stores, the Bricklin 3EV, a $25,000, three-wheeled, battery-powered two-seater. The vehicle, Bricklin claims, could be ready for sale in two years. Customers, he said, will «test drive» the ritzy-looking vehicle using virtual reality machines installed in a «pod» on dealers` used-car lots. That pod, by the way, looks a bit like the saucer-shaped ship from the campy 1960s TV display «Lost in Space.»
Two. From a separate gallery away from the dealership, high-end artwork by known artists, works that have a ensured value. And money is routed to the artists when the works are resold.
Is there a catch? Well, yeah. This is Bricklin we`re talking about.
Dealers can`t just invest in the car. They have to pony up $Two million for both the car and the art gallery, or no deal, Bricklin said.
No one but Bricklin could fantasy up something like this and get dealers not only to listen but to invest. The very first check from a Fresh York dealer has been deposited. Bricklin said four other dealers are on board. He needs ninety five more dealers to buy in to fund the $200 million project.
But if you know Bricklin, this is what he does. And the only question is the same old question: Can he pull it off?
Dan Panoz, who runs Panoz Engineering Services, in Hoschton, Ga., about ninety minutes northeast of Atlanta, has done some preliminary engineering and design work for Bricklin`s three-wheeled car.
The company, Panoz said, is not yet under contract to finish the project for Bricklin. But his clothing, part of a group of companies affiliated with race car designer and engineer Don Panoz, who is Dan Panoz`s father, could manage the project and have the Bricklin 3EV ready by 2019.
«It`s taut, and it is a shove,» said Dan Panoz. «Absolutely it can be done in two years, but not with a lot of product switches.»
Panoz said he doesn`t get the feelng Bricklin will make many switches. «He has a direction he wants to take us in,» he said. «He is an old-school go-getter, and he`s aggressive in the area he wants to go into.»
Bricklin visited Automotive News last week and reminisced about a long career in the auto industry: a six decade, pothole-filled journey that has seen him several times win and then lose big fortunes, many financed by new-car dealers.
No chapter in Bricklin`s unorthodox life has been by the book. That includes his commence in business in Orlando with a chain of hardware stores he founded when he was scarcely out of his teenagers and later sold for a sum that reportedly made him a millionaire.
In the mid-1960s, Bricklin, along with business fucking partner Harvey Lamm, founded Subaru of America, no effortless feat. Fuji Powerful Industries, as Subaru of America`s parent company was then known, felt its vehicles were not right for America and did not want to begin U.S. operations until it had a suitable car.
But Bricklin, using his considerable energy, charm and charisma, persuaded Fuji executives otherwise. Bricklin counts Subaru as one of his proudest achievements. It is celebrating its 50th year in America amid record sales.
After exiting Subaru, Bricklin`s charisma and sales abilities persuaded the flamboyant premier of Fresh Brunswick, Canada, Richard Hatfield, to finance a sports car to take on the Chevrolet Corvette.
The made-in-Canada Bricklin SV-1 appeared in one thousand nine hundred seventy four with sexy gull-wing doors, a roaring American Motors 360-cubic-inch V-8 engine and more problems than an algebra book. After just more than Two,800 cars were built, the project died when Fresh Brunswick residents pressured Hatfield into cutting off funding to help fix the car`s technical and cosmetic problems. The SV-1 escapade left Bricklin practically broke. No money, no problem for Bricklin. A few years later, he was back with fresh plans.
His other projects included taking over distribution of Fiat`s one hundred twenty four Spider and X1/9 in the 1980s and importing the $Trio,990 Yugo subcompact. He also built and sold electrical bicycles in the 1990s. A decade ago came the failed effort to sell Chinese-built Chery automobiles in the United States. The deal collapsed, and all the dealers who anteed up were given refunds, Bricklin says.
The art and the car deal
Bricklin, who lives in Monroe, N.Y., two hours north of Manhattan, said he became interested in the business aspect of the art world when his wifey took up painting after the Sept. Eleven terrorist attacks.
But he quickly realized that the art world is an inefficient business and a risky investment for art buyers. So he commenced thinking like a car dealer and dreamed to expand inventory for the sellers and lower risk for the buyers.
«If I had one hundred galleries in the United States that would sell art from $Ten,000 and up and connected them all with a monitor, so when you walked into any of the galleries you would not only see the twenty artists in that gallery, you would see the Two,000 artists, I would have $1 billion worth of inventory,» Bricklin said.
He commenced speaking with luxury car dealers about investing in his art gallery idea and then realized that buyers of high-end cars are also frequently art aficionados. «I determined that car dealers should be the ones that invested,» said Bricklin. «High-end cars and high-end art indeed do go together.»
Bill Prior, who has been working with Bricklin on and off for three decades, is again on the payroll of Visionary Vehicles, the Bricklin company that is rolling out the project.
«Dealers are under a giant amount of pressure,» said Prior, «from legislators, regulators, customer advocates, fresh market entrants and even from fresh technology. On top of that, they have the pressures of plateauing new-car sales and declining margins. The cost to create and keep a customer is the only thing that is actually accelerating.»
The art connection to the Bricklin 3EV is, Prior said, a way for dealers to «diversify their portfolios. And bring some joy back into the automobile business.» Bricklin said he doesn`t expect his car to share showroom space with existing brands, hence the need for the parking lot pod. «Car manufacturers are not glad about another brand in their showroom. We came up with an idea to put a pod in the used-car lot. You will sit in the seat, and you will be able to drive the car on any road in the world,» Bricklin said.
What makes this deal different, according to Bricklin, is that he is applying all the lessons, from his successes and especially his failures, to this project. During Bricklin`s visit to Automotive News, he reeled off a list of experienced auto industry executives he said are involved the project. That list includes Ron Harbour, the factory efficiency guru whose influential Harbour Report helped automakers lower production costs.
Today, Harbour`s business, Harbour Consulting, is possessed by global consulting rigid Oliver Wyman, where he is a playmate. Harbour confirmed that he has had informal discussions with Bricklin on his Bricklin 3EV project but said he is not a Bricklin employee – despite being listed by Bricklin as part of the Visionary Vehicles team. Harbour said any work he does in an official capacity would be part of a contract with Oliver Wyman.
Meantime, Brian Miller, dealer principal of Manhattan Motorcars, a high-end store that sells exotic makes with price tags deep into the six figures, confirmed he has invested in Bricklin`s art and cars project. And remarkably, he doesn`t seem to care if the Bricklin EV3 comes out on time.
«The art kind of intrigued me. I think it`s a cool idea. The car kind of got thrown in. The cars, whatever. When they come, that`ll be superb. We`ll attempt to sell some, but the art is indeed how I got involved,» said Miller.
«I think if he can pull off what he wants to do, with his business plan, he`ll be the largest art distributor in the country, and it will expose art to a lot of people who may want to buy art but are a little intimidated and don`t know how to break in. Malcolm has a lot of novel ideas. He thinks out of the box.»
1971: Creates FasTrack, a family-oriented racetrack where unsold 360s can be raced against the clock
1972: Hires noted car designer Herb Grasse to draw what will become the Bricklin SV-1, a V-8-powered gull-wing sports car; starts raising money to engineer the car
1973: Starts Bricklin Vehicle Corp.; builds around Two,800 cars before production finishes in Fresh Brunswick, Canada, in late 1975
1982: Takes over distribution of the Fiat X1/9 and one hundred twenty four Spider after Fiat pulls out of the U.S.
1985: Imports $Three,990 Yugo, a license-built Fiat, from Yugoslavia. Sales embark off strong but fade quick as quality and reliability problems surface. Sells the company in 1988.
1995: Develops EV Warrior electrified bicycle with former Hughes Aircraft Chairman Malcolm Currie; sales begin at new-car dealers; Lee Iacocca buys the company.
2003: Forms Visionary Vehicles and starts looking globally for an entry-level car to import to the U.S.; signs a deal with China’s Chery Automobile Co. to be the U.S distributor of Chery cars. The deal falls apart in 2006; lawsuits are filed on at least three continents; no cars are delivered.
2017: Creates Bricklin Group and commences pitching dealers to invest in a fresh kind of art gallery and a fresh 3-wheeled electrical car, the Bricklin 3EV.