Malcolm Bricklin has, despite some moments of glory, spent the lion’s share of his career moving along the outer edge of the automobile industry. As the founder of Subaru of America and the driving force behind importing the mostly unfortunate Yugo into the U.S., his results have been commercially a mixed bag.
An effort to import Chery automobiles from China was yet another attempt to find profitable and comfortable niches on the American car market. Bricklin planned to bring the cars and SUVs into America to compete with German and Japanese brands. His strategy involved setting up a dealer network to invest in his Visionary Vehicles - and in Chery - to get the ball rolling. The idea went like this: dealers would invest $2 million USD which would be placed in escrow for later use to fund Chery development projects.
That idea ended in nearly all the prospective dealers and investors - and other investing parties - filing lawsuits against the Chery operations in China for breach of contract for damages totaling more than $1 billion USD. Back in July 2013, VCars LLC won a judgment of $2 million from a U.S. District Court decision by a jury in Detroit, MI.
V Cars LLC, better known as Visionary Vehicles, was Bricklin’s international automobile importing and distribution company which was shuttered before ever importing any cars to North America.
But before that, Bricklin’s most enduring and high-profile success came in the guise of his eponymously named car, the Bricklin SV1 (or Safety Vehicle One). It was a stylish, Ferrari-inspired, Canadian-built, two-seat sports car produced from 1974 to 1975. The SV1 featured gull-wing doors and color-impregnated acrylic resin and fiberglass coachwork.
Photo: Visionary Vehicles
The cars were assembled in New Brunswick, Canada, and Bricklin’s pitch was promoting the SV1 as a design that put safety at a premium. The car was built around an integrated roll-cage and included energy-absorbing bumpers.
Production of the SV1 was called to a halt after some 3,000 cars were ultimately built, and it’s estimated that just 1,700 Bricklins survive as of 2012.
Bricklin’s latest venture, the Bricklin 3EV, is an entirely electric-powered three-wheeled, two-passenger, enclosed car, and the company estimates that the MSRP of that vehicle will fall somewhere between $25,000 and $30,000 USD.
The marketing material for the 3EV says that the company hopes the car will be a direct competitor for the models offered by Tesla, Inc., and it’s been reported that plans for the vehicle include, oddly enough, using Tesla supplies in the production of the car. Bricklin says the exterior design features of the car will be rehashed after every 50,000 cars are produced to preserve their novelty and collectability.
Photo: Visionary Vehicles
And Bricklin himself is still very much in evidence and active in the automotive world.
The Canadian Automotive Museum located in Oshawa, Ontario, plans to feature a lecture series with Bricklin as a focal point. During the lecture series, on September 16, the schedule calls for “an Evening with Malcolm Bricklin,” the chief executive of Visionary Vehicles.
“Malcolm Bricklin is one of the great independent auto entrepreneurs, best known for the ill-fated Canadian-made sports car that shared his name,” says a release from the museum. “Over the years he has marketed and sold a staggering range of automobiles, from Yugos to Subarus to experimental electrics."
The program will be moderated by CAM Curator Alex Gates, Special Project Coordinator Dumaresq de Pencier, and will feature Malcolm Bricklin discussing the Canadian-made Bricklin SV-1, alternative energy vehicles planned for the future and the innovations on the horizon in the North American auto market.
The event will be presented via Zoom for a suggested donation of $10.
Google News