Intermeccanica going all electric

Called it.

Carey Hines- the world is your oyster.

FYI: The link.

Question is will these be in the jaguar e type zero price range?

I see from the link Stan shared that it has a 50 kwh battery pack. That should be very comfortable in terms of range. We have a 24 kwh Leaf that has a 100 mile range and is a much bigger car than Henry's. If you've ever floored an electric car you know how nice the torque is. Should be fun. That being said, I'm glad mine has a manual transmission and a gas engine. For me that's more fun and we'll still have the Leaf.

You need a "manual transmission" with an electric motor?

Oh.....for the gas engine, I guess....

A good Biking friend of mine has a Chevy "Volt", which he loved.  Right up until the time GM decided to discontinue them.

Well we are living in interesting times, here's hoping that we can get some support for items related to our builds.  @Bob: IM S6 @Stan Galat  

P.S.  I wonder if more details are available as to what parts were used any ideas?

We need some group therapy.  

So do the used IM cars with IC engines go up or down in price? These cars were built for nostalgia so not sure going all electric is the way. 

...interesting times ... Indeed.  Henry seems a man with a mission.  That said, i'm thinking Iconic Speedsters/Spyders emitting unburned hydrocarbons and audacious exhaust notes are going to be in demand for a while.

hbkmat posted:

So do the used IM cars with IC engines go up or down in price? These cars were built for nostalgia so not sure going all electric is the way. 

Well the good ones should go up.  After delivery, most of these cars are serviced and maintained away from the manufacturer anyway (unless you live near Vancouver).   I think the fact that he still building 356’s is the most important thing here.  Getting parts will be the crapshoot.  Time will tell.

It might be disappointing if you own an IM, but IM will do whatever it needs to do in the E world to survive.  IM is betting the full house and barn on E tech.  I wish them luck.  

There is no question that any IM should appreciate as the Italia did and continues to increase with age and none of these cars will simply rust away unless majorly neglected after all they are glass.  

As to replacement parts it might be fun in the future to get some of the rarer items but then classic cars do have that problem as well.  

wrt "Iconic Speedsters/Spyders emitting unburned hydrocarbons and audacious exhaust notes are going to be in demand for a while."

perhaps the other quality builders will see this as a boon -- an opportunity to do more scratching of the old-school itch, where Henry is bowing out.  As mentioned: time will tell.

A solid electric coupe rocketship with mendeola suspension would be fun.

In terms of a business plan, I'm guessing that Henry's shooting for a high-end niche market that will grow over the next 10 years. IM is already high-end, but may be seeing more competition. Perhaps this is a way to step ahead/away from that competition, although I'd be afraid that there will be a few lean years before the market develops.

Sounds like Henry is taking that China money

hbkmat posted:

Sounds like Henry is taking that China money

As some in Canada predicted that your current leader would make a wise person do. ( my opinion only )

My son already has the 550 Spyder electric version

WAYYYYYY too cool. 

hbkmat posted:

Sounds like Henry is taking that China money

The misconception here is that Meccanica, the parent company of Intermeccanica and Electrameccanica is Chinese owned. It is not. It is a Canadian company.

The company is publicly traded (SOLO on the Nasdaq) and Henry Reisner is not the CEO (a man named Jerry Kroll is). The IPO was in Sept., 2017. SOLO's share price has been as high as $14.90 (shortly after the IPO) and had dropped as low as $1.06, just before the first of this year. As of yesterday's close, Meccanica closed at $2.61 and the company has a market cap of about $96M. Intermecccanica was/is a subsidiary of Meccanica, and was rolled under the umbrella some time during the past couple of years. All of the eggs are in the Meccanica basket, and have been for some time.

The China connection is that Electrameccanica's 3-wheeled, single seat electric commuter (the Solo) will be mass produced at the Zongshen production facility in Chongqing, China. Electrameccanica has received 64,000 pre-orders for future product (Solos and Tofinos), and took delivery of 20 Solos currently being used as demos at it's LA dealership on April 1, 2019. Intermeccanica has built just about 600 cars out of it's Vancouver shop in 25 years. China is a factory, Vancouver is a shop.

I've made my feelings regarding electric cars well known, and I'm not interested in rehashing them here. What's important is that Intermeccanica as a builder of IC engined replicas is the piece of this whole puzzle that didn't fit. Henry and his company are full-bore into an electric future, and have been since the IPO. Henry said in his newsletter that, "I also realize that this process has taken its toll on current Intermeccanica customers whose projects were delayed by my heavy travel schedule."

So this is the brave new world. I don't have to like it or agree with it, but it's very consistent with the trajectory of Meccanica, and I understand that if one is in for the penny, one is in for the pound. I wish the Reisner family nothing but success as they cater to the kind of folks who are laying out $125K for a Tesla S. Those are not my kind of people. It is entirely possible that I am the past, and they are the future-- I have my doubts about that, but my company is not worth $96M.

Regardless, and as I see it-- this latest development leaves Special Edition/Beck with a great opportunity as they move their product upscale and bring new and better cars to market. Filling Intermeccanica's enormous shoes in this space will be a huge challenge, but also a huge opportunity. The IC engine has long legs, and more than a few tricks left in the bag.

I believe that Carey and his team are up to the task.

Henry’s production of cars, both speedsters and roadsters, is not very large on a yearly basis.  These days, he may turn out 12 to 14 cars a year, if all goes well.  So we are not talking a massive shift here.  Each car is completely bespoke, tailred to the individual owner’s likes, desires, whims.

So, his going electric for the 356 cars won’t make much difference, in terms of volume, in the automotive world.  It will make a large difference to those car lovers who know of Intermeccanica, and who are not looking to the future of gas powered vehicles, but it is mainly a symbolic difference in this case.  It is nothing - in terms of news - in comparison to when Porsche abandoned air and went to water cooled cars.  

But, it is still another indication - for some of us older car nuts - that our world is changing more than we may want it to.

Marty, I will join you in that group session...

hbkmat posted:

Sounds like Henry is taking that China money

As Stan says above, this is an all Canadian company, with production of the Solos being in China.  Henry will be taking money from all over the globe when the Solo production ramps up.  

That’s today’s global business model.

I think Henry is on point with his vision investing in electric vehicle production.  My concern is China scooping up the IM concept and running with it as China's estimate on future electric vehicle ownership is staggering. I also see a nitch in large metro areas here is the US  The good is, used IC IM's will climb rapidly in value 

Found this to be of interest:      

In for a penny .... funny that quote rang through my brain yesterday....

Stan is right the koolaid is Green and the mass will do what it will do and we will all look back and see the chips fall where they will .

 There are already a few who are doing electric conversions, I think mostly on Special Edition cars, and I think it's one of their dealers located in Colorado. It would be interesting to compare price points on the SE's vs. what Intermeccanica will charge for theirs. I have no idea how much success there has been selling our cars as plug ins.

Assuming that the buyers of the estimated 12-14 current gas burners that IM puts out per year want to remain with the dinosaurs like us, that would seem to be a nice little piece of business. If that business gets mostly redirected to SE, I wonder what that means to the wait time for cars in Kevin's queue, or, over time, does it represent an opportunity to expand a bit? Time will tell. 

I also wonder how long the allure of these cars will hold up. Most of the guys on this site seem to be like me, taking some meds to ward off the aches, pains and chronic symptoms of age related diseases and problems. We can't hold out forever. Dead end sometime in the future.

These are the cars that we coveted in our youth and our offspring and their offspring mostly coveted, and I imagine will acquire, the popular cars of their youth.

There isn't much of a market for model T's and A's cause the folks who grew up with them and bought them later in life have mostly gone to the used car lot in the sky.

Make hay while the sun shines, boys and girls!

Here in Elkins WV there are 180 to 200 Model A cars ( National Tour) on display last night and tonight...All owners are well into their golden years. What becomes of these cars and their value and the interest has diminished is anyone's guess. I do know that if you attend the AACA annual event in Hershey PA those owners are there with their children that are in their late 50's and a few grandchildren that are no spring chicken's either. Take a look at the Cruise In's around various towns ...Those owner are seniors too. As for our Tupper Ware cars, some of the owners are somewhat younger in their 40's so there is still interest down the road for Speedster, Roadsters and Spyders.

IM electric 125$ USA 

Panhandle my uncle at 78 would say the train is getting near the station but so far has not arrived yet... he arrived at the station at 80y.o. He was a GM top exec in his work life.

I'm not sold on the idea that Cold War era cars are destined to become less popular as we all die out.

The cars I lusted after in my youth were not Porsches, and if they had been, they certainly would not have been sub-100 hp bathtubs. Sometimes, a taste for good things is acquired by choking down on some less good things.

We live in the golden age of horsepower, but the cars themselves are increasingly computerized. This will not age any better than the 20 year old desktop computer sitting in your garage did. I suspect young people will treat analog cars much the same way they treat early electric guitars and classic rock music. I've yet to meet anybody under 30 who doesn't love my car. I can assure you that I never felt that way about a Model T.

It may be true that younger people are not after carburetors and distributors, but as more replicas get to be more like cars at the turn of the millennium (one very robust ECU, doing stuff way better than analog ever could), I think the market for loud, proud, and reliable IC-engined retro-mods will flourish as people under 40 tire of a touch-screen for everything.

Rolex and Breitling don't seem to lack for customers for their decades old purely analog watches. I think good cars will stand the test of time.

 For those that did go to the Carlisle show field on Friday and Saturday, saw a complete turn around from just a few years ago where there was dozens of replica Cobras , Lambo's,  T Birds and other one off kit cars ...A large percentage of the manufactures are gone too and Jim Youngs of Kit Car Builder magazine saw a decline in the membership subscriptions and decided to fold the that venture. Antiques as well as 50's and 60's are all owned by seniors,  with very few new remakes coming into the scene.  Low suspension fart box cars are what is the in thing for many of the young people.

I have lots of friends that are in love with the 70-80's American cars, and while I appreciate them I find the 70's and 80's cars IMHO, are not as desirable unless you really are an American Muscle guy.   They are simply more raw and have a lot of plastic.

I liked that quote on the Ferrari race driver where he called a spade a spade... that made me chuckle, yet I look at the Carlisle show, some old cars are just that, OLD....

IF you decide to get one, a full restore will be the same price point as any car when you do a full restore.  Especially, for the man hours to do it not counting the parts needed.

I personally find that you need to really like the car before you jump in as if it has 60hp your still going to be going 60hp fast.  

As to an electric IM I have no desire for one and the price point has enough margin to start an elite exclusive club.   

fart boxes, yep

A number of years ago I recall a few fart box car owners that decided to park in the NJ replica tent overnight ...In the AM, Tom asked the nicely to move the cars, one young ass clown decided to get cocky and Tom put his lit fat cigar out on the top of the kids head ...that was priceless~

End of an era IMO. May sound negativo but I say to Henry why bother with going all electric just get out of the business or sell it. Recommend to just keep electric as an option because naturally aspirated is at the core of these cars - the core Henry!

As Stan mentioned he did. 

Stan Galat posted:

Called it.

Carey Hines- the world is your oyster.

Maybe the impetus for SE to start making Roadster Ds?

Greg Leach's oyster as well, no?

I'm not a fan of electric cars at all. I need the smells and noises. But that's just me.

I want to wish the Reisner family much prosperity and happiness in their venture.

What is a fart box?

Anyone watching Tesla’s stock this week or Morgan Stanley’s report on it? Not looking so good. 

Todd M posted:

What is a fart box?

One of those large diameter mufflers that kids stick on their Hondas, etc.

Sounds like a long fart as they drone by.

Todd M posted:

What is a fart box?

It's a box you put your cat in when you were a kid and everyone took their turn with farting into the air hole. Cruel I know but hey... kids.