I hadn't until I read an article in Florida Trend earlier today. I then found this article online, written by friend of GRM, Steven Cole Smith. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, materializes out of this effort. No mention of the funding source supporting the effort thus far.
Rockledge team plans gas-sipping Avera
Steven Cole Smith
May 29, 2010
ROCKLEDGE – R. J. Scaringe has spent years declining to discuss his new automotive company, Avera Motors, and now that it's finally time to talk, he can barely stop. But does not want Avera to be one of those new car companies that throws a big news conference, shows a sketch of a new vehicle, announces grand plans for a factory and marketing, then is never heard from again.
Scaringe declines to make promises he can't keep.
That you haven't heard of Avera — a blend of "America," and "verde," as in green, and "terra," meaning earth — likely leads you to think that the company isn't that far along with plans to build a new sports coupe here in Central Florida.
You would be wrong. Scaringe, 27, president and chief executive officer of Avera, has quietly hired about 15 engineers who have worked for companies such as Chrysler, Mitsubishi, Mercedes-Benz and Roush Industries. They have already designed the car's exterior, interior, suspension and powertrain, and they have a full-sized clay model of the car in the studio — which I was allowed to see but not photograph. It looks sort of like a new Mitsubishi Eclipse, but smaller.
Scaringe says the car will be fun to drive, carry four people, and according to the company's fledgling Web site, get twice the mileage of today's hybrids. That's the only claim I heard during my visit to the company that I question because double a Toyota Prius would be close to 100 miles per gallon.
The Avera will likely be a diesel hybrid. The car will be mid-engined — meaning the engine is right behind the rear seat — and rear-wheel-drive, regarded as the optimum drivetrain configuration for performance and handling by companies such as Ferrari and Lamborghini. The basic platform would be "flexible," Scaringe says, meaning that once the Avera sports coupe is under way, the platform could support, say, a two-seat convertible, a small SUV or any number of vehicles.
Price? Around $25,000.
It is not lost on anyone in the automotive business, much less Scaringe, that the industry has not been kind to those looking to outdo the major car companies. Malcolm Bricklin, John Delorean, Preston Tucker and a long list of entrepreneurs would confirm that. So why should we take Scaringe seriously?
There are several reasons, perhaps the central one being that he is the son of Robert P. Scaringe, who founded Mainstream Engineering in Rockledge in 1986, on an eight-acre campus with 110 employees. Mainstream is a pioneer in the development and manufacturing of thermal control and energy conversion products.
From Mainstream's press materials: "Mainstream designed and built the lightest diesel generator in the world, a vapor compression refrigeration system that is onboard the International Space Station, and the world's first magnetic-bearing centrifugal compressor chiller." Both father and son have a PhD in engineering, with R.J.'s from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Presently, Avera Motors is in one of the nondescript buildings on Mainstream's property. By the end of the year, Scaringe hope to have a running prototype of the car. By 2011, the Avera will likely be displayed at national auto shows. By 2012, Scaringe says we could see Averas on the road.
And, he says, he'd like to build them in Florida. Several legislators on the Space Coast have high hopes that the Avera factory, which could employ more than 1,000, could be built there, likely seeing it as a partial solution to the jobs NASA is shedding. But other states such as Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee are used to throwing millions in cash and considerations to attract auto factories, and Florida must step up if it wants to keep the Avera.
What leads R. J. Scaringe to think he can succeed where others have failed?
"The most critical aspect is putting together the right team," he says. "The right business model is important, but the right team is also extremely important."
And with the cutbacks in the auto industry, "There's never been a better time to go out and find the best team possible.
"We're not going for a particularly high-end super car, we're going for a part of the market that we feel is very strong,'' he said. "So as long as we can execute — and having the right team will allow us to do that — I think we'll be successful."
