[DML] Re: DeLoreans almost manufactured in Puerto Rico

["David Teitelbaum" <jtrealty@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

It's a historical fact that JZD had active negotiations with several
places, Puerto Rico and Northern Ireland were the top 2. As any savy
negotiator knows, you play one (or several) against each other to
improve the deal. You let it sneak out about the others so it seems
like you are trying to hide it while getting each to make it's best
offer. One can only wonder about how things would have turned out if
Puerto Rico won! Maybe DMC would still be in business! Sometimes the
"best" offer is not the best choice!
David Teitelbaum
vin 10757



--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Todd Masinelli <tmasin@...> wrote:
>
> A friend of mine in Puerto Rico sent me two articles from the San Juan 
> STAR, dated August 27, 2007.  Of course they had the Associated Press 
> "entrepreneur from Texas is going to blah blah blah" article that's 
> popping up everywhere lately, but they also had another one that talked 
> about Puerto Rico almost serving as the location of the DeLorean 
> factory.  I have included the text of the article below.  Nothing too 
> mind-blowing in there, but I thought someone might find it interesting.
> 
> I find it funny that their "files" indicate only one DeLorean was
driven 
> in Puerto Rico.  When I was in San Juan last year, I just missed
meeting 
> up with Luis, a DeLorean owner who lives there with VIN 5342.  He
was in 
> the process of tracking down every DeLorean in PR, and at that point he 
> had accounted for 17 of them!
> 
> Anyway, enjoy.
> 
> Todd
> VIN 6681
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> DeLorean Almost Came to P.R.
> by The STAR Staff
> 
>     DeLorean lore is of particular interest in Puerto Rico, where the 
> car came within an inch of being produced in Aguadilla in 1978.  
> Financing was lined up, deals were all but sealed on a $96 million, 
> 550,000-square-foot plant at the former Ramey Air Force Base in 
> Aguadilla, then called Punta Borinquen.  The Puerto Rico Industrial 
> Development Company's $50,000-a-year lease included the plant and 185 
> acres of land, established as a foreign trade zone so the company could 
> bring in French-made motors without duty.
>     Pridco even planned to put up $3 million in worker training to 
> prepare some 2,000 islanders to build 30,000 of the sports cars a
year.  
> The car was to cost around $14,000, a pretty penny 23 years ago.
>     Fomento Administrators had rounded up some $60 million in seed 
> money, $40 million of it in federally guaranteed loans.  At the last 
> minute, DeLorean pulled the plug, moving the operation to Ireland,
which 
> wooed him away with some $127 million.
>     At first, the loss was the subject of great controversy and much
blame.
>     The decision to drop Puerto Rico was a blight on the island's image 
> -- and psyche.  Here was DeLorean, the flashy maverick of the auto 
> industry, planning to build a stainless steel, Italian-designed sports 
> car in Puerto Rico.  The free world had its eye on this deal.  It spoke 
> volumes for the island's manufacturing prowess.
>     Speculation was rampant as to why the island lost the deal.  Delays 
> in the negotiating process were blamed.  The Puerto Rico Manufacturers 
> Association was quick to accuse the new Incentives Law that would allow 
> only a 90 percent tax deduction, not 100 percent.  Others thought the 
> government should have thrown more cash into the deal.
>     But then-Fomento Administrator Manuel Dubon drew the line at giving 
> DeLorean more than 70 percent of the cost of the project.  "We simply 
> did not have those resources," Dubon said after the deal failed.  "And 
> if we did, we would have been foolish to risk so much in this venture."
>     In a column published in The STAR in August of that year, Hector 
> Reichard from the Chamber of Commerce of Aguadilla wrote of the 
> frustration and anger when the deal went sour.  But he also pointed out 
> the positive side.
>     "We have learned a good lesson.  If we want to do it, we can. 
Never 
> before...have so many [people]...worked so hard and pledged so much 
> money to develop one single project."
>     Reichard also pointed out then that the studies developed for that 
> project made it clear that the development of the former Aguadilla air 
> base for cargo, passengers and industry should be the basis for
economic 
> development of that region.
>     As luck would have it, the factory in Ireland was plagued with 
> problems.  The first car came off the line in 1980 and by 1982, the 
> company was in serious trouble.  It was in receivership by the end of 
> February and DeLorean was soon nabbed attempting a multi-million dollar 
> cocaine transaction.
>     According to STAR files, there was one DeLorean driven in Puerto 
> Rico, and that belonged to Olympic Mills President Francisco Carvajal, 
> who bought it in Miami for $35,000.
>     "If the car had been manufactured in Puerto Rico, as we hoped it 
> would, I firmly believe it would have been a success," Carvajal told
The 
> STAR in 1983.  "It came out much more expensive due to shipping costs, 
> the duty tax and the two-year delay in changing locations."
> 
> ------------------------------
>




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