Malcolm Bricklin

FOR MALCOLM BRICKLIN —founder of Subaru of America, producer of Canada’s ill-fated Bricklin SV-1 sports car, importer of the Fiat X1/9 and Spider 2000 as well as the Yugo, and would-be U.S. dealer network for China’s Chery automobiles—there’s always The Next Deal.

- Todd Lassa

This time, The Next Deal is a three-wheeled electric car, Visionary Vehicles’ Bricklin 3EV, coming in late 2019 or early 2020 with outsourced components and assembly. Bricklin plans to sign designers from around the globe to constantly update the exterior styling of his new 3EV and says VV will have signed contracts with Panoz Engineering Services and with manufacturing specialist Harbour Consulting by the time you read this. VV also will sign 250 car dealerships across the country—at $1 million per franchise— and choose 96 of them to form the first-ever “secondary market” for original artwork. Think of it as 96 high-end dealers of classic Ferraris and Jaguars and the like—except for original art.

Your new deal involves art sales in auto dealerships?

MB: Owned by the dealers but not in their dealerships. The gallery has to be in the towns’ [art districts of galleries and museums]. [Traditionally in the art world], if you don’t buy art that can be sold at auction, the gallery you bought it from is your only way to resell that art. But in the car business, used cars have a market. We’re going to put these [96] galleries together and connect each gallery.

Who is helping you organize this part of the business?