V Vehicle Car company (VVC)
A new kind of Auto company backed by Texas billionaire investor T. Boone Pickens and staffed by former Mazda design chief Tom Matano plans to build “environmentally friendly” vehicles in Louisiana.
TheNewsStar Report:
Ouachita Parish could be the genesis for the transformation of the American auto industry, executives of the V Vehicle Co. said Wednesday after announcing the company’s first plant and its 1,400 new jobs will be located here at the former Guide Corp. facility.
But V chief executive Frank Varasano, Chairman Ray Lane and director of design Tom Matano revealed few other specifics about the car’s design or business model, other than the company’s name.
“We’re trying to be protective of the things we need to be (because of potential competition),” said Varazano, the project’s visionary and former executive vice president of Oracle Corp. “We want to tell you about the car and distribution system all at once.
“What we plan on doing is as it’s appropriate release more information about what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.”
But Gov. Bobby Jindal and economic development Secretary Stephen Moret said they know enough to commit $67 million toward the project from the state’s mega fund and more than $12 million in work force training with the Fast Start program.
“We’re joined by some of the most revered names in American business to build the next great American car in Northeast Louisiana,” Jindal said in front of more than 300 people at the Guide plant just off of the Millhaven exit on Interstate 20.
“We’re here to announce an opportunity to transform the entire American auto industry and the economy of northeastern Louisiana,” the governor said. “The concept is amazing and the team behind the company is first class.”
Moret said the state commissioned an economic evaluation of the project from A.T. Kearney, Inc., that concluded the project is viable.
“Based on the information provided by the Project Liberty leadership team, industry benchmarks, third-party market research, as well as our automotive expertise and analysis, we believe that Project Liberty has a compelling business model, and targets economics that are reasonable and achievable,” A.T. Kearney said in its report to Moret.
The first of the mystery cars, which are expected to be gas-powered, high-mileage economy vehicles, are set to roll off the assembly line in Ouachita Parish near the end of next year after a $100 million expansion that will almost double the size of the 425,000-square-foot facility.
Louisiana business mogul James Davison of Ruston owns the former Guide plant, which ceased production of head lamps at the end of 2006.
Jindal and others said Davison help drive the project to Ouachita Parish.
“James committed a tremendous amount of time and support to make this a success,” Jindal said. “Not only is he an investor, but a big booster of the region.”
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