EVLN(Corbin Motors Daytona Beach)
[The Internet Electric Vehicle List News. For Public EV
informational purposes. Contact publication for reprint rights.]
--- {EVangel}
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/nationworld/orl-cfbcorbin19081902aug19.story?coll=orl%2Dbusiness%2Dheadlines
CFB COVER STORY
Electric 'car' hopes to spark a revolution
By Sandra Pedicini
Sentinel Staff Writer
August 19, 2002
DAYTONA BEACH -- Corbin Motors Daytona Beach wants to set up
shop along Interstate 95 and churn out Sparrows -- colorful,
electric mini-cars like the one the evil Goldmember drives
in the latest Austin Powers romp.
But before the project can fly, the company that created the
Sparrows must crawl out of a financial hole and make sure
the tiny cars are free of technical problems that have
plagued them.
Sparrows, created by a Navy electrician turned
motorcycle-seat designer, are produced by Corbin Motors Inc.
of Hollister, Calif., which owns 45 percent of Corbin Motors
Daytona Beach.
Corbin Motors' first creation, the Sparrow, has had plenty
of media attention. Most recently, the creators of Austin
Powers in Goldmember had some fun with one of the Sparrows,
modifying a gold one to create a phallus-shaped car for the
movie.
But away from the silver screen, the vehicles have not fared
so well.
About 100 Sparrows have had to be returned to the factory
for repairs. Dealers have fumed as customers continue to
wait for Sparrows that have yet to arrive. Disgruntled
former supporters who call the cars faulty and unsafe have
brought lawsuits.
"It's difficult to sell something you can't get," said
Norman Clark, a Fort Lauderdale dealer who says one customer
has waited a year and a half for a car while others have had
to return theirs to California for repairs. "When you do get
it, it doesn't work."
In June, the company announced it had stopped taking
deposits on Sparrows, saying on its Web site it was
"striving to be financially prudent and responsible to our
shareholders and supporters."
After spending about $20 million in family money and
investors' cash, President and Chief Executive Officer Tom
Corbin said, the privately held company has yet to make a
profit and owes more than $1 million in unpaid bills.
Seventy orders for the original Sparrow remain on hold,
waiting for new systems to be tweaked. The company also has
orders for more than 800 new models, called the Sparrow II.
Corbin said the company will resume taking Sparrow orders by
early next year. The company is now focusing on a faster,
more sophisticated-looking creation, the gas-powered Merlin
Roadster. Corbin Motors says the Roadster will deliver the
company its first profitable quarter, and that, it says,
will pave the way for production in Daytona Beach. About
1,200 orders -- 300 from customers and 900 from dealers --
have been put in for the newest product.
"We still are here making cars," said Anthony Luzi, who
works closely with the Corbins in California and heads up
Corbin Motors Daytona Beach.
"Anybody that's got good investment sense will be able to
look at this and say these guys are doing what it takes to
get it done."
A biker beginning
The evolution of the one-seat Sparrow starts with Mike
Hanagan, a big, tattooed motorcycle designer who looks like
he would have trouble squeezing into one of his creations.
Hanagan's company, Corbin-Pacific Inc., has a sterling
reputation among bikers. With high quality and a wide
selection, Corbin is probably the country's most well-known
motorcycle-seat manufacturer, said Matthew Miles, managing
editor of Cycle World magazine.
When Hanagan started the company in 1968, he named it Corbin
because he wanted a name that sounded tougher and less Irish
than his own. And Hanagan's reputation became so intertwined
with his business, he named himself after his company. Both
Mike and son Tom use the last name Corbin on their Web site,
in interviews and on business cards. They haven't legally
changed their name, using Corbin as sort of a business stage
name.
Because of his background in electrical engineering,
59-year-old Mike Corbin always had an interest in the notion
of an electric motorcycle, designing one of his own in 1973.
His interest intensified during the energy crisis of the
1970s, and the idea for the Sparrow came to him when
watching commuters in a California traffic jam. Seeing that
most people drive to work alone, he decided to make a
one-seat vehicle that commuters would love.
In 1996 he unveiled the Sparrow, a tiny vehicle that looks
like a Volkswagen Beetle reflected in a funhouse mirror. The
vehicle the company calls a "personal transit module" is
difficult to classify. Corbin Motors also calls it a car
but, legally, the vehicle is considered a motorcycle and is
insured and registered as such.
Whatever the name, the funky vehicle found a niche with
environmentally conscious consumers in the West. Here was a
chance for them to "save the world in Sparrow style," Corbin
Motors said in its Internet biography of the cars.
Investors and would-be dealers started lining up. One
investor who has since grown disenchanted with the company
was so enthusiastic he got himself a Sparrow tattoo.
Daytona Beach dreams
Almost immediately, the Corbins started thinking about
building a factory in Daytona Beach so they could have a
presence in the Southeastern United States. With its annual
influx of bikers and car enthusiasts, Daytona Beach seemed
like a great location.
Corbin-Pacific already sells motorcycle seats at a Daytona
Beach showroom in the heart of Main Street, a sort of
biker's row filled with bars, leather shops and motorcycle
parts stores. The Corbins envisioned a domed building off
the interstate that would be part factory, part tourist
attraction.
Corbin Motors Daytona Beach was created a couple years ago
to make the factory happen, but so far it hasn't.
"We've had some glitches," said Luzi, who taught alternative
health in California before deciding to sell Sparrows.
Officials selected two properties but both turned out to be
unsuitable. And when the company went to the Volusia County
Industrial Development Authority for help getting
tax-exempt, low-interest bonds, the authority thought the
company's financial plan was too vague.
At the end of June, however, Corbin Motors Daytona Beach
finally closed a deal with Consolidated-Tomoka Land Co. to
purchase land for $1.2 million. The factory will cost
several million more to build.
Two years after the plant was supposed to open, plans now
call for breaking ground within the next few months. The
factory will build the Sparrow II, a new model with a
rounder shape and a new system that regulates the flow of
electricity to the motors. It will also build Roadsters,
which have Harley-Davidson engines and Volkswagen
transmissions, and eventually will add Merlin Coupes, also
powered by gasoline.
Technical troubles
But given Corbin Motors' problems in California, some locals
are skeptical.
"I can't seem to find anyone who thinks it's going to
happen," Volusia County Council member Big John said.
Rick Michael, Volusia County's economic development
director, calls it an "ambitious project" that could take
years.
"Until they get their production capabilities in line, I
think it's going to be difficult for them to look at a
separate facility."
As plans for the Daytona Beach factory faltered, so did some
of the 285 Sparrows that were delivered to customers. Some
of them just wouldn't start.
Corbin Motors has pinned the problem on faulty controllers,
, which regulate the flow of electricity into the motor.
Corbin Motors says outside companies supplied the faulty
controllers but another company is putting finishing touches
on a new system.
For a while, Corbin Motors got Kilovac controllers. But once
Kilovac was taken over by Tyco International Ltd.'s
electronics division, it cut off the relationship with
Corbin Motors.
Mike Molyneux, a director of engineering with Tyco, said the
Kilovac controllers worked fine and the company wasn't
getting enough return on the $500,000 it had invested in
helping Corbin Motors develop its new technology. Officials
worried the car company doesn't have enough employees with
technical expertise, something that Corbin disputes.
Corbin has "a great concept" for its vehicles and still has
potential, Molyneux said.
"It needs investment and . . . good technical people there,"
he said. "It would be a success if they could ever get that
kind of investment and those kinds of people."
Safety is questioned
Critics say Corbin Motors has strung dealers and customers
along as it tried to work out the Sparrow's problems. Corbin
Motors says it has tried to keep customers happy, even
sending employees across the country to pick up faulty
cars.
In 2000, Corbin-Pacific settled a lawsuit brought the year
before by Jan and Lyn Winn. The couple said in the lawsuit
they ran into delays getting vehicles and at one point had
to temporarily close their La Jolla, Calif., dealership
because there were no vehicles to show.
The Winns questioned the safety of one of the Sparrows they
received. In lawsuits, other critics have said Sparrows have
shown a tendency to roll over.
Tom Corbin says the cars have always been safe but wider
tires have made them even safer.
He said the company knows of four situations when the cars
tipped over while customers were driving them, and all of
those were due to driver error.
Corbin said its problems are not unusual for a new company
working in experimental technology.
Tom Corbin says he and his father, Mike, have "risked $10
million of our family money and our brand name" to realize
the dream of making small electric vehicles marketed to
commuters.
"We are doing very cool things in very tough times," he
said.
Sandra Pedicini can be reached at
[EMAIL PROTECTED] or 386-851-7911.
Copyright � 2002, Orlando Sentinel
-
=====
' ____
~/__|o\__
'@----- @'---(=
. http://geocities.com/brucedp
. EV List Editor & RE newswires
. http://egroups.com/group/evangel
=====
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs
http://www.hotjobs.com
