Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal announced today that the taxpayers of Louisiana will spend $67 million dollars to buy and expand the old GM Guide Plant building in Monroe for a company that is little more than an address and phone number in San Diego, CA. V Vehicle Company’s car is nowhere near the prototype stage and appears to be little more than an artist’s concept drawing.
Ouachita Parish area governments are to come up with $15 million in additional local funding. Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo said they had only about $4 million on hand, so the balance will have to be raised by new taxes on area citizens.
Both the state and local money will be provided up front to buy the building and land, expand the facility and then turn it over to the new company. Lincoln Parish News Online asked Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret, Louisiana State Senator Bob Kostelka, and Mayo specifically if the state and local money was up front and they all said yes.
Additionally, V Vehicle via the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (AVTM) has applied for federal guaranteed loans of over $300 million. The U. S. Department of Energy administers the loan program. Asked if the loans were government guaranteed, Frank Varasano, CEO of the company said, “yes.”
“We’re not prepared to talk about the product yet,” VVC spokesman Joe Fisher told Cars.com this afternoon. “But V-Vehicle believes the new car will reconstruct the entire automobile [manufacturing and sales] process from beginning to end to provide extra value to customers.”
The Louisiana Department of Economic Development announcements are here and here.
Earlier, Lincoln Parish News Online, along with The (Baton Rouge) Advocate had speculated the mystery auto company might be Fisker Automotive.
No such luck.
As of this very moment it appears the taxpayers of Louisiana and Ouachita Parish are about to piss away almost $100 million on a car company that is nothing more than a phone number and street address to build a car that is nothing but a drawing on a sheet of paper.
UPDATE – 5:25 pm
“Earlier today, V-Vehicle Company announced its intent to build an all new “high-quality, environmentally friendly and fuel-efficient car for the U.S. market” at a factory in Louisiana. So far, though, the company is keeping quiet about what kind of car it will be, how large it will be and what kind of engine it will have.”
More information from KickingTires blog.
UPDATE – 5:35pm
Doerr, Pickens invest in V-Vehicle – The Deal.com
An auto startup in Louisiana – What the heck? CNNMoney.com
UPDATE – 6:00pm
“East Ouachita Parish-Piyush Jindal showed up at the old Guide Plant today around 11:30 am to announce that the taxpayers of Louisiana and these United States would be paying $82, 000,000 real dollars to GNF Architechs and Cray Construction to remodel the plant and to build a new one beside it to manufacture an as of yet undiscribed concept car called the v-vehicle, in three years!”
More here.
06/17/2009 at 5:35 pm |
I am all for creating manufacturing jobs, and under certain circumstances, using Tax Payer money to keep jobs for 1300 workers and 200 plus farmers was what I thought a good use because it actually furnish jobs and kept people off the unemployment roles. This car is nothing more than a wet dream, all you have to do is read about a real venture, the Fisker Car Group, and what they have been though to get a car to market. These guys are some of the brightest and most talented guys in Silicon Valley, and they will tell you it is a nightmare. Maybe you can understand our big 3 problems. The Government red tape is unbelievable. Safety Tests, EPA tests, and etc. The excutives of this outfit would be lying if they said they could start production in 2 years or less. Alot could change in 2 years, this sounds to me like the fleesing of some dumb southerns. Our officials need to make these guys accountable and put forth a time line and soon and tie it to this handout. Sound to me like in a year or so, Monroe will be Auctioning another building, this one twice as big as the last, and James Davison will lap it up and laugh all the way to the bank. Something stinks in Monroe, and for once it is not the Paper Mill.
10/05/2009 at 5:20 am |
[...] on June 17 of this year at the big announcement show-and-tell event (we were there) the stories went like [...]
01/19/2010 at 10:11 am |
[...] no model or photo of the V-Car has yet been revealed to the public since they announced the project last June. Yesterday the company admitted that they are just now beginning to do “testing and [...]
02/10/2010 at 9:25 am |
[...] for a Department of Energy ATVM loan to help finance its project. When the project was announced last June, approval of the loan was imminent, we were told. Moret did say that he was [...]
02/19/2010 at 2:28 pm |
[...] agreement was signed last June and announced in a high-profile event at the old GM Guide Plant, site of the proposed [...]
02/22/2010 at 4:29 am |
[...] company is finally constructing a drivable prototype of the V-Car. This comes eight months after a high-profile announcement at the old Monroe GM Guide Plant of their intent to build and market what the company says is a [...]
03/02/2010 at 5:26 am |
[...] Company and LED officials have been claiming the loan approval was imminent since the project was first revealed last June. [...]
03/20/2010 at 7:26 am |
[...] day of the big announcement last June out at the Guide Plant, we wrote: As of this very moment it appears the taxpayers of Louisiana and Ouachita Parish are about to piss [...]