Gif image - 344 Kb The Tropica has a practical range of 40 miles. Recharging with household current takes six to eight hours.

Dealers sign up for Fla. EV

Entrepreneur Beaumont expects deliveries by fall

WILLIAM R. DIEM

Managing Editor

The price has gone up and the delivery date has been pushed back again, but Bob Beaumont's dream electric car will find a small network of dealers ready when the car is.

"We're going to handle the line," said Kevin Mealy, general manager of his father's Don Mealy Chevrolet in Orlando, Fla. Mealy is one of 11 dealers in Florida who have signed on with Beaumont's Renaissance Cars Inc.

Beaumont, who was briefly the sixth largest car builder behind Checker in the 1970s with his electric CityCar, moved into a 45,000-square-foot factory in Florida May 2. He says his company ultimately will have a 30-a-day capacity for his Tropica, a sleek open roadster aimed at warm-weather markets.

"We've got 594 cars scheduled between now and the end of the year," said Beaumont in a telephone interview from his offices in Palm Bay. He has released a production schedule to parts suppliers, which include GM's Inland Fisher Guide Division Trojan Battery and Curtis Instruments.

The base price of the Tropica is $11,900, with a dealer discount of 12 percent, but the only cars being built are the Signature Collectors 1st Edition; options push the price to $15,515.

Steven Hull, principal of Hull Chevrolet-Geo in Jacksonville, will handle the car, but he makes no prediction on volume.

"I don't have a clue," he said. "I think it's a novelty right at first, but it could do more. It might be a good little third car, a good little commuter car, a good little fun car."

He said he has had several calls from customers; his staff is excited by the prospect, and handling the line will be "good exposure for the dealership."

The start of production has slipped several times. A new director of operations, Marshall Kett, was hired from Donzi boat builders this spring. Beaumont said the company hopes to get one car to each Florida dealer by early September, and three cars each to two dealers in California in early October. He has also signed a smattering of dealers elsewhere, as far north as Rhode Island.

Although the Tropica is a bare-bones car with no heater, air conditioner or top, it does have some technical innovations, Beaumont said. He is proud of the automatic watering system for the 72-volt battery pack and the anti-theft key card that slips into a slot to activate the DC motors.

Tropica, which has a wheel base of 89 inches, will likely have a top speed of 60 mph and a practical range of about 40 miles, based on a test-track run of 103 miles at 26.5 mph.