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Visionary Vehicles/Malcolm Bricklin Endorse CalCars & PHEV Campaign
Mar 8, 2007 (From the CalCars-News archive)
CalCars-News
This posting originally appeared at CalCars-News, our newsletter of breaking CalCars and plug-in hybrid news. View the original posting here.
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Is this unprecedented? A startup automaker sees the benefit of working with today's coalitions of car-buyers/drivers/early adopters, technologists, companies and policy advocates.

Visionary Vehicles is the first to recognize it can capitalize on the growing momentum for plug-in hybrids, instead of resisting it! We hope this new company will succeed -- and that it will help speed the transformation of the auto industry.

For media coverage about Visionary's announcement of its shift to focus on PHEVs, see our CalCars-News posting January 9, "Could China Deliver Affordable PHEV by 2009 with Malcolm Bricklin?" http://www.calcars.org/­calcars-news/­647.html

Here's today's joint Visionary Vehicles/CalCars press release:

Visionary Vehicles Endorses CalCars Malcolm Bricklin Throws Support to the Promotion as Well as the Production of Plug-In Hybrid Cars

March 8, 2007 (Palo Alto, CA) -- Felix Kramer, CEO and Founder, Cal Cars, today announced that Visionary Vehicles, the first 21st Century car company dedicated to mass producing a full line of Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) will has endorsed its organization and the broad campaign to commercialize PHEV's.

"This starts the great Plug-In Race of the 21st Century. Companies all over the world are stepping up to this international challenge. Electrifying transportation and cleaning the fuels are the ways to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and decrease greenhouse gases from vehicles. We can do it now, with no new infrastructure and no technology breakthroughs. We at CalCars applaud Visionary Vehicles' bold plans to mass-produce high-quality advanced technology vehicles for the U.S. and international markets faster than any other auto-maker thinks is possible -- while making a profit. They could pave the way for the rebirth of an entire industry," announced Felix Kramer.

"Visionary Vehicles is committed to advancing this important new technology and accelerating the adoption of PHEVs," said Malcolm Bricklin, CEO and Founder. "We're opening competition, and motivating the world's auto industry to make a transition to better, greener cars. We plan to use quantity orders to reduce battery and component prices and economies of scale to replace the cars people drive today with what people really want: cars that are in the luxury category in terms of design, engineering, performance, safety and reliability but are affordable and get 100+mpg of gasoline."

"In addition to our work on our vehicles, we aim to become part of the broader community that's driving the adoption of clean vehicles among consumers and building support for those vehicles and their technologies among public policymakers at local, state and national levels," continued Bricklin. "To that end, we will support CalCars.org, the California Cars Initiative, as well as other industry and advocacy organizations working to advance this cause. We will earmark a portion of the profit from every car that we sell to contribute to transforming the transportation industry."

Visionary Vehicles also plans to reach out and join the Electric Drive Transportation Association, the Electric Auto Association, Plug-In Partners, the Infrastructure Working Council and WestStart-CALSTART among other groups who are leading this important advocacy effort including UC Davis Professor Andy Frank, the Electric Power Research Institute and the California Electric Transportation Coalition as well as Plug In America.

About CalCars.org http://www.calcars.org

The California Cars Initiative (CalCars.org) is a Palo Alto-based nonprofit startup of entrepreneurs, engineers, environmentalists and consumers promoting 100+MPG plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). CalCars.org is itself a hybrid, focusing both on public policy and technology development, harnessing buyer demand to speed PHEVs' commercialization and mass-production. Formed in 2002, CalCars.org was first to convert a standard hybrid into a plug-in hybrid in 2004, and has since worked to raise awareness about PHEVs' benefits and feasibility.

About Visionary Vehicles http://www.vvcars.com Visionary Vehicles, Inc. is dedicated to the design and distribution of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles ("PHEVs") in North America and other world markets that are manufactured and assembled in China. The Company plans to exclusively offer plug-in hybrid electric powered vehicles currently not available to the general public. Its vehicles will be designed and engineered to meet or exceed the exacting standards of luxury, performance, quality and safety set by the leading German and Japanese luxury Visionary Vehicles is working to address the growing and substantial unmet consumer demand for alternative fuel vehicles as a result of growing awareness and concern regarding environmental issues, including the impact of carbon emissions on global warming and the desire for energy independence to promote national security. Visionary Vehicles believes that this demand conservatively translates into a potential market of approximately 2.5 million U.S. consumers in the near-term. Consumers will be offered environmentally responsible technology and substantial fuel savings without compromise in terms of cost or driving experience compared to established luxury brands. Visionary Vehicles is dedicated to profitably establishing and growing a new brand that convincingly persuades customers that Visionary Vehicle's new products "Redefine Luxury".

Visionary Vehicles was founded by Malcolm Bricklin, the automotive innovator who also founded Subaru of America. Mr. Bricklin currently serves as Chairman and CEO of Visionary.

CONTACT: For Visionary Vehicles
The Lexicomm Group
Kevin DeLeon Kevin@...
Wendi Tush wendi@...

CONTACT: For CalCars Felix Kramer info@... [may be slow responding, at TED Conference]

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