New Startup in Louisiana; V-Vehicle Company

Another day another car company? New startups have sprouted up to (supposedly) do what the big automakers can't do. America has always been about innovation and ingenuity, so it's nice to see new companies work to cater to a new emerging market.

Fisker Automotive's CEO Henrik Fiske says that the situation has evolved so much to the point that new startups like his company might actually have an advantage over their bigger counterparts. I don't know about that, but it's clear things are different now then they were just 10 years ago.

There is Coda Automotive (Formerly Miles EV), Aptera, Fisker, Pheonix Motorcars, Tesla and many others. I know I'm missing some but those are just the ones that come off the top of my head.

There is a new one now though, started in the state of Louisiana at a former General Motors plant near Monroe. Founder of V-Vehicle Frank Varasano says “What we’re doing… is trying to create a new American carcompany,”. Whoa, quite a tall order. All in a days work though, huh? V-Vehicle even has the designer of the Mazda MX-5 Miata Tom Matano on board to design the new vehicle.

If it all seems to come out of nowhere, that's because it is. The project is obviously legitimate and suprisingly well-funded compared to similar companies. Guess who is one of the company's major investors?

Texas billionaire and oilman (turned natural gas proponent) T. Boone Pickens. The Louisiana Economic Development Department and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal were also instrumental in giving V-Vehicle the tax breaks that will help them begin operation in the state. Governor Jindal was there for the announcement.

The only information about the car that's released right now, other then the lone picture, is that it will be "high efficiency". Given the involvement of Pickens though, I'd be shocked if it wasn't powered by natural gas. Speculation is that the car will be a minicar similar to the Fiat 500, and V-Vehicles wants the cars released in as little as 18 months.

Normally I'd be skeptical of something like this, and I will continue to monitor progress of the venture. That said, this project is different; there is big name involvement and heavy investment going on here. The factory will employ 1,400 workers and V-Vehicle says it's set to begin a 325,000 square foot expansion of the plant this summer. Very exciting! I think this project has the potential to have a huge impact.