GOING

Where -- and how are you going into our bright future? We love and design fast cars and slow, big engines and small, gas, hydrogen, electric, 4 wheels--more or less-- trucks, trains, planes, and dig plenty of efficiency and sustainability. We even have a lobbyist for capacitors! Please send us your news and views to going @ sparkawards. com.

Contributors include Dan Sturges, Dave Muyres and Mark Charmer. Gentlemen, start your powerplants!

LAUNCHPAD
July 1, 2009 by Peter Kuchnicki

It's appropriate to launch the GOING blog with a launch by friend and Spark Council member, Tom Matano.  Tom is also Director, School Of Industrial Design for the Academy of Art University and ex-chief of Mazda Design. In a somewhat cryptic PR from LED (Louisiana Economic Development), plans are outlined for a new eco-car, designed by Tom and an impressive team. When I asked Tom "What else can we put in the GOING blog about this? How about sharing some design guidance, mission, drivetrain, etc?" Tom responded, "Unfortunately, I can't give you any more than that the plant site has been selected... If this goes as planned, it will be another ICON like Miata has become."

We're rooting for you, Matano. And dig the VC masters of the universe-types behind this startup. Watch out Elon! Here's most of the PR:

RELEASE: Louisiana Economic Development

V-Vehicle Company, or VVC, is a new American car company that will produce a high-quality and fuelefficient
car for the U.S. market. Its goal is to provide the American car buyer greater product value and a
superior automotive experience. By designing and building its cars in the U.S., VVC wants to help re-establish
American leadership in the global automotive industry.

• VVC was founded in 2006 by Frank Varasano, a former Oracle Corp. and Booz Allen Hamilton
executive. The vehicle design team is led by Tom Matano, who is best known as the “father of
the Miata,” which was recently named the “most iconic” car of the past 25 years by BusinessWeek.
Headquartered in San Diego, Calif., VVC intends to locate its first manufacturing facility in Monroe, La.
First Plant Location Selected
• VVC selected Monroe, La., as its first plant site after an extensive and competitive, multistate
evaluation of potential candidates against a detailed list of critical factors. Key to its decision was
the availability of an existing facility, the quality of the labor pool, its confidence in the state and local
leadership and a creative incentive package developed by the Louisiana Economic Development
team that addressed core needs and provided value where it was most needed. KPMG advised VVC
in the selection process and CBRE acted as real estate broker.
• VVC plans to renovate, retool and expand the former Guide headlamp facility in Monroe, approximately
doubling its size with the addition of about 325,000 square feet of production space. The construction
project is expected to begin later this summer. Gray Construction of Lexington, Ky., has been chosen
to design, engineer and supervise the project. CKGP/PW & Associates of Troy, Mich., will provide
process and manufacturing engineering support. Both organizations have impressive resumes in
automotive plant design and construction.
• Once completed and at full capacity, the Monroe facility will employ over 1,400 workers. The majority
of these workers will be employed by VVC, with approximately one-third employed by several colocated
supplier companies. VVC intends to take full advantage of the Louisiana FastStart™ program
to help recruit, screen and train a world-class workforce. Production hiring is expected to begin in the
summer of 2010.

V-Vehicle Company Funding In Place
• VVC has been funded thus far by the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, or KPCB,
under the stewardship of VVC board members and KPCB partners Ray Lane and John Doerr. KPCB
is one of the world’s leading venture capital companies, with success stories including Genentech,
Amazon, Compaq and Sun Microsystems. VVC and KPCB are currently in the process of closing a
second round of equity funding.
• VVC has applied for engineering and manufacturing loans under the Advanced Technology Vehicle
Manufacturing Loan Program, a $25 billion loan program established by Congress in 2007 and
administered by the U.S. Department of Energy to spur innovation in automobile technology.

For more information, visit www.OpportunityLouisiana.com.

BIOGRAPHIES
V-Vehicle Company Selected Investors & Executives

John Doerr
Managing Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
“V-Vehicle Company coming to Louisiana, I think, is a great statement and a
great catalyst for all kinds of new, innovative economic opportunities.”

Ray Lane
Managing Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
“The thing that excites me the most about V-Vehicle is that it is a holistic
change, so we’re thinking about – from beginning to end – how to
reconstruct a car company.”

Horst Metz
Vice President – Assembly Operations, V-Vehicle Company
“Designing a car in America, building a car in America, selling the car in
America – we’re going to show that it can be done.”

T. Boone Pickens
Founder and Chairman, BP Capital Management
“I’m excited to be an investor... and I believe that the automobile industry
will survive in America, but it won’t look like it did in the past.”

Frank Varasano
Founder and CEO, V-Vehicle Company
“Our vision for a new American car company is coming to life here in
Monroe, La.”

Tom Matano
Director of Design, V-Vehicle Company
“My belief is to do a good design that lasts longer. It’ll make people happy.”
Tom Matano has 30 years of experience in the automotive design industry. In addition
to his responsibilities at VVC, he serves as the executive director of the School of
Industrial Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Matano joined
Mazda in 1983 and progressed through numerous design positions, ultimately
becoming general manager of Mazda Design, with responsibility for the chief designers’
group that created Mazda’s entire line of car designs, as well as the European
and North American studios. His accomplishments at Mazda include the MX-5, the
RX-7, the 929 Miata “M-Coupe” concept car and many other projects by the design
teams he managed and created. Earlier in his career, he held design positions at
General Motors and BMW.
 

>Register for Spark Today!

« Back to blogs | Permalink | Email article | del.icio.us