Bricklin continues to sign dealers
Malcolm Bricklin continues to sign up dealers for his Visionary Vehicles franchises, despite a battle with GM over the name Chery and high franchise requirements. First of all, GM is trying to stop Bricklin from bringing Chery vehicles to the US, based on the similarity between their names, Chevy and Chery. GM had their battles with Chery in China over the Chevrolet Spark and Chery QQ copying already. That does not really present much of an obstacle, but the high franchise requirements mean only well-heeled dealers can opt into Bricklin's plan. First, dealers will have to purchase $2 million in Visionary stock. Then they will have to find ten acres for the stand-alone building that will house the dealership. The original plans we have seen also call for a test track. We suppose there will not be a dealership in Manhattan. Regardless, Bricklin has 25 dealers signed up already and 200 more in the pipeline (apparently).
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
iQuack 10:45PM (12/18/2005)
Wasn't this guy Preston Tucker in a past life?
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Adam 10:45PM (12/18/2005)
See, everyone wants to be a chevy. Chevrolet is the best.
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Za 10:45PM (12/18/2005)
Tucker actually made a good automobile and was screwed over by large auto manufacturers. He had ideas and vision. Not salesmanship or connections.
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Adam 10:45PM (12/18/2005)
Love the test track idea. I wonder if these cars will be decent though...
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Mal Fuller 10:45PM (12/18/2005)
Hey iQuack,
After reading about Malcolm's franchise scheme, I couldn't wait to get my comment in about Preston Tucker...but you beat me to it, iQuack! Congratulations on your keen historical perspective.
Incidentally, my dad, a career Ford employee was given the assignment by that company to see what Preston was up to. Dad had Ford do an internal cost analysis as to what it would cost FORD to build the car Tucker proposed. I think (if I remember right) Tuckers were supposed to retail for $1,800. It would cost Ford $2100 to produce the Tucker with Ford's economy of scale. Dad concluded that Tucker was out to defraund dealers by selling franchises at $25,000 each and any other "investors" he could sucker.
For publicity, Tucker "awarded" the radio contract to Motorola. This made front page news in the Chicago newspapers. Motorola was almost ruined. As late as the early 1960s you could buy a genuine Tucker radio from J. C. Whitney or Warshowski's (or however it was spelled).
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iQuack 10:45PM (12/18/2005)
Mal,
If I remember correctly, the Tucker had an aircraft engine in it--at least early ones. The headlight in its bullet nose turned with the steering wheel, too.
After WWII, people had money and cars were very hard to get until supply caught up by about 1950.
Cars that were all-new designs created quite a stir then because most were warmed-over, pre-war hulks until 1949.
The Tucker was a major topic of conversation, of course, and the Raymond Lowey Studebaker turned more heads then than just about any newly-styled car available today.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be;-).
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Bigel 10:45PM (12/18/2005)
I'll believe it when I see it. Bricklin has been throwing out these outlandish claims, only to retract them later when the truth comes out. Didn't he already claim he had over 200 dealers signed up months ago and then later when it was revealed that the number was closer to 12, he just said, "Oops. Ha ha, just kidding about the 200. But we will have 200 soon...blah, blah, blah."
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iLash 10:45PM (12/18/2005)
I find the most interesting part of the evolving VVCars/Chery story is the dealership itself.
Test track! Showroom like a car show. Drive-in movie theater?! And why doesn't every dealership have a drive-thru car wash?
Looking forward to checking it all out.
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Motorhomes America 10:45PM (12/18/2005)
The testrack rocks ! This is a truely unique feature no other car dealer has. Great Marketing gag and feature for customers.
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Jay 10:45PM (12/18/2005)
It's all well and good, but not only will these be expensive to build, but expensive to maintain (that test track will need some patching every now and then). Given that they'll be selling a lot of budget-priced cars, are they really going to be able to afford these kinds of gimmicks at all of their dealers? I like the idea and everything, but I just don't see how this could be sustained across their entire dealer body. More power to them if they can pull it off...
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Fred 10:45PM (12/18/2005)
On the test track thing, many dealers have fairly extensive areas of tarmac anyway just to store their cars on. A little more laid out like a circuit wouldn't necessarily break the bank.
The comment that Chery won't have trademark issues because it's already won a similar case in China is misplaced.
Aside from the question as to what protection Chinese law could give GM in the first place, trademarks and trade dress are geographically specific. Chevrolet is a far more established mark in the United States than it is in China. I'm not even clear that Chinese buyers are likely to know them as "Chevys". That means that as to a case brought over the same mark used in the US market, there is a much higher likelihood of confusion between the two marks. There is also a much better case for arguing that the use of Chery is actionable "dilution" of the Chevy mark, precisely because the Chevy brand is so strong in the US market.
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Rick 10:45PM (12/18/2005)
From a dealers perspective this is an absurd initial investment that Bricklin is asking for. It's risky enough to take on a new product, the quality of which will affect your reputation, but to achieve a reasonable return on capital invested seems implausible in this scenario. Both Bricklin and Chery have extremely questionable track records.
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Rick 10:45PM (12/18/2005)
From a dealers perspective this is an absurd initial investment that Bricklin is asking for. It's risky enough to take on a new product, the quality of which will affect your reputation, but to achieve a reasonable return on capital invested seems implausible in this scenario. Both Bricklin and Chery have extremely questionable track records.
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