Jalopnik
Apparently inspired by the success of BMW's rethink of the Mini, AC Cars has decided the time is right to begin building cars in the US of A, and they're doing it in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The 40,000 square-foot facility will create 141 jobs and will be underwritten in part by the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development. The plant's sports cars'll sell in the $90-150k range, which is becoming a rapidly impacted niche. We're rooting for old AC; still, we're curious to see if the cars will be up to snuff when pitted against venerable British companies with American and German megabucks and berbrains behind them: i.e. Aston Martin and Bentley.
AC Cars to build plant in Connecticut [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
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Comments
I haven't checked in with AC for a while, but the last time I looked they were busy going out of business. It might have had something to do with their overpriced, under-engineered carbon fiber replicas; or the LNG Cobra coupe (!), or Caroll Shelby's lawsuit, or the fact that they couldn't compete with themselves (i.e. the dozens of top notch US Cobra replica companies). The US website (www.accarsus.com) has no news of this development, and takes great pains to point out that they don't sell completed cars. [NB: Having driven a Mustang-engined, Cobra CRS, I heartily recommend that you don't go there.] I wonder if this new venture will continue to use bodies made in South Africa, and how they convinced Connecticut to cut them so much slack with such a checkered financial past... As the Brits say, this one is bound to end in tears.
heard this on the radio this morning. I would love to see them succeed (and let those 141 people in CT get to keep those new jobs) but how does it make sense that a $20k car convinced them that selling $90-150k cars was a good idea. good luck. Then again, my father does have a new mini and a cobra (replica) so I could be wrong.
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