Philadelphia is trying hard to attract a South Korean electric-car maker.
Representatives of CT&T Co. Ltd. met with Mayor Nutter last week in an effort to bring a “regional assembly and sales” operation to Philadelphia, said Curt Westlake, the company’s senior director of marketing.
In essence, it would be a final-assembly operation with a retail location where people could buy the electric car called the eZone. Founded in 2002, CT&T now makes its vehicles in South Korea. But its plan to expand in the United States calls for the company to establish RAS sites around the nation.
So far, it has set up joint ventures to do so in Greenville, S.C., and Riverside, Calif., Westlake said. The typical RAS will employ 90 to 125 people.
CT&T intends to make its U.S.-market cars entirely in this country within 18 to 24 months. To do so, it will set up a central manufacturing location to make frames and other key parts, Westlake said. States in the running for that factory are South Carolina, Georgia, California and Alabama. The decision time for that is in the next 30 days, he said.
Though we’ve heard a lot of hype about various plans for electric vehicles, CT&T fully hopes to be selling its first eZones in the United States before year’s end, Westlake said.
However, the company has a bit of a problem. Right now, it can’t import anything that can go faster than 25 m.p.h., he said. Then, there is the matter of where consumers can drive what is considered a “neighborhood electric vehicle” or “low-speed vehicle” with a range of 70 miles. Some states don’t permit them on the road. Others allow them only on streets with posted speeds as high as 35 m.p.h.
That could make some commutes tricky, but not impossible, said Westlake, who said he’s able to do about 80 percent of his errands driving a two-passenger eZone around Greenville.
The eZone looks like a cousin of Daimler’s Smart Fortwo. With a retail price projected to be under $15,000, the eZone would be comparable to the gasoline-fueled Fortwo, which has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price starting from $11,990.
Westlake said CT&T will be showing off its cars at events associated with the Group of 20 Summit in Pittsburgh later this week at the invitation of Gov. Rendell.
- Philly Skyline
- Delaware Business Blog
- PlanPhilly
- Changing Skyline
- Dangerously Awesome
- Greater Philly chamber
- Consumer Inq
- Freakonomics
- Oddly Enough
- Philly PharmaBio Blog
- Physicians News Digest
- Pharmalot
- BloggingStocks
- 10Q Detective
- PhiLAWdelphia
- Delaware Corp Litigation Blog
- Philadelphia Forward
- Great Expectations
- SEPTA Watch
- PhillyFuture
- Comcast Must Die
- Philly Geeks
- Philadelphia Tech News
- Broadband Reports
- Phila Road Warrior
- March
- February
- January
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008





