NL Motors trades in Lincolns for scooters

By Patricia Daddona    Published on 8/27/2008

For 57 years, New London Motors Inc. sold new Lincolns and other traditional cars, later adding Mazdas into the mix.

But on March 4, Richard Antupit, the company’s president, and his son, Philip, the vice president, sold their traditional dealership franchise to Whaling City Ford.

Then in April, they signed on to sell Eurospeed scooters, motorcycles and, sometime in the first quarter of 2009, electric cars from the building and 4½-acre lot they own on Colman Street.

The Antupits contracted with Ansonia-based Eurospeed USA, which is the company’s exclusive distributor for the United States and Canada. The importer is the Euro Group of Companies Inc., of Port Chester, N.Y.

”We just felt the direction of the automotive business was changing,” Philip Antupit said as he showed off the scooters scattered across the showroom floor.

”We weren’t in trouble financially. We just weren’t making any money. I just didn’t want to keep going down that road until we were forced out of business.”

The nation’s big automakers, including Ford, are feeling the pangs of an era where $4-a-gallon gas and greenhouse gases are taking their toll on the industry, and the consumer is willing to consider nontraditional alternatives.

”I personally think a lot of the major car companies we see today will either not be in business 10 years from now or we’ll see mergers,” said Philip Antupit.

New London Motors Inc., on the other hand, could last another 57 years by diversifying into the new nontraditional market, he said.

”We want to be a leader,” he added. “I don’t like to be a follower. Be an innovator. It’s a little riskier, but it’s more interesting.”

Eurospeed USA distributes motorcycles, scooters, all-terrain vehicles and UTVs (four-wheeled utility vehicles) and the all-electric City Car, which is manufactured in China, said Mike Healey, president of Eurospeed USA.

Other distributors have sold them in Europe, Asia and Australia, he said, but the U.S. scooter business is in its infancy.

The scooter was introduced in Yonkers, N.Y., on May 9, Healey said. Sixteen dealers signed up in the United States, five of them in Connecticut. The Connecticut dealers are Crowley in Hartford, New London Motors, Healey Ford in Ansonia, Barbarino in Wallingford and Mannix in Guilford.

There are also Eurospeed dealers in five other states: South Dakota, Iowa, North and South Carolina and Rhode Island. Thirty dealers are waiting for approvals, he added.

Antupit said he has sold 10 scooters in the week and a half he’s had them on the lot.

”That’s pretty good,” said Healey, adding that the distributor has “sold everything (manufacturers) have given us off the first two shipments, about 1,500 scooters, and we have 2,000 on boats coming over here. That’s a pretty good start.”

Healey and Glenn Russo, Euro Group’s senior vice president, said that the company is specifically targeting new car dealers.

”We want to make sure it is people who have an understanding of engines, mechanics, warranty programs and how to deal with consumers’ needs,” said Healey. “We’re also looking for people with good volume, good location and some history in the industry.”

Philip Antupit, whose grandfather, Eli Aronson, started the business, felt “apprehensive” on the trip to Yonkers, but came away reassured by the corporate structure and Eurospeed’s commitment to a three-year warranty for its scooters.

The scooters are “safe, stylish and the warranty basically makes a statement that, when you’re putting an investment out there … we’re prepared to say there won’t be issues with the bikes,” Russo said. “We’re confident in the product.”

They range in price from $1,400 to $4,000, he said, come with product liability insurance and get 70 to 85 mpg, depending on the model, he said.

The electric City Car, a commuter car that travels up to about 45 mph, will sell for under $10,000, he said.

”Electric cars are of interest as gasoline prices have risen in recent years,” said Paul Taylor, chief economist for the National Automobile Dealers Association, which has more than 20,000 members.

”Certainly, alternative sources of power for cars and light trucks is expected in the future,” he said. “The key to electric vehicles and natural gas vehicles of course is the price of fuel. Inexpensive kilowatts make for more interest in electric vehicles.”

Antupit says he is hoping to sell his first electric car in January and is in this new market for the long haul.

Russo says that is right where Euro Group wants its new dealers to be.

”Months away, years away, there’s a much larger plan to give these dealers access to other value products,” Russo said. “They’re not just becoming a scooter dealer, that’s the foundation, but there’s other products coming on line.”

August 13, 2008

In an about-face that is a sign of the times, a prominent West Hartford auto dealership plans to abandon its Hummer franchise — and sell motor scooters and electric cars instead.

Crowley Chevrolet and Hummer announced Tuesday that the dealership will not renew its franchise agreement with General Motors and will soon stop selling GM brands altogether.

“Hartford Dealer Refuses to Renew GM Franchise Agreement!” Crowley trumpeted in a quarter-page advertisement in Tuesday’s Courant, ending months of speculation among local dealers about how Crowley would respond to turmoil in the U.S. automobile market.

Ken Crowley, who owns about a dozen automobile franchises at seven area dealerships in central Connecticut, said he expects to liquidate his existing stock of new Chevrolets and Hummers at the New Park Avenue location in West Hartford by the end of September. Before then, he said, he will start selling scooters, motorcycles and electric cars there.

Crowley declined to give details about the arrangement with GM. But in an interview, he said, “I’m selling out to GM. It’s all part of the landscape. The automobile industry is going through quite a metamorphosis. Things are changing, and they’re never going to be the same again.”

The change, in this case, is dramatic: Crowley will convert from selling U.S.-made SUVs that symbolize a gas-guzzling era to efficient scooters and electric cars made in China by The Eurospeed Co.

Crowley’s move is part of a broader change in the auto landscape among dealers of models made by the “Big Three” American automakers — GM, Ford and Chrysler. As the companies reinvent themselves, they are trying to shrink the number of dealerships selling their brands, in some cases buying back franchises, in others encouraging the consolidation of existing franchise holders.

High gas prices have devastated American automakers, which for years relied on gas-guzzling trucks for profits. The super-size Hummer, originally developed as an all-terrain military vehicle, epitomized the American lust for a big, powerful personality on the road.

Japanese automakers, meanwhile, focused on developing smaller, fuel efficient vehicles, such as the wildly popular gas-electric hybrid Toyota Prius.

GM, which in June said it would consider selling the Hummer brand and has been talking with potential buyers, reported a $15.5 billion loss for the second quarter. In July, Ford reported a loss of $8.7 billion for the same quarter. Privately-held Chrysler said it had a first-quarter loss of $515 million.

“What precipitated all this was when GM said they maybe weren’t going to make Hummer any more,” Crowley said, adding that the brand was once a “significant contributor to our profits.”

The West Hartford dealership will continue to service Chevrolets and Hummers but might change its name, he said. Crowley said he is shopping around for a new auto franchise that might operate at the New Park Avenue location, which he acquired in 1992.

It might take Crowley the rest of the summer to sell his Chevrolet inventory, but he’s already loading up on scooters, motorcycles and electric cars supplied by Eurospeed, a New York-based distributor of Chinese-made vehicles. The electric cars will sell for $8,000 to $9,000 and are not intended for long commutes, Crowley said.

“They’re not meant for Interstate 84,” he said. “They’re a city car.”

Several Hartford-area dealers of U.S.-made automobiles have said recently that they are entertaining mergers and acquisitions.

“It’s happening across all the domestic lines,” Brian Bolles of Bolles Motors in Ellington said in a recent interview.

Bolles, a Chrysler dealer, bought Carter Dodge of Manchester in May. Dodge is a Chrysler brand.

General Motors did not respond to a request for comment.

Watch Video Story

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — Crowley Chevrolet and Hummer is dropping its deal with General Motors, which owns Hummer, and picking up scooters and electric cars made by Eurospeed, a Chinese company. 

“There’s no question our (Hummer) sales diminished about 50 percent,” said Ken Crowley, of Crowley Automotive Group. “The big ones were never the big sellers. The H3 was more the seller.” In place of Hummers, he said, the dealership in West Hartford will be selling Chinese-made Eurospeed scooters that start at about $1,600 and get 70 to 80 miles per gallon. Also coming later this year are electric cars made by the same company that will sell for between $8,000 and $9,000, he said. Crowley said consumers can bring the vehicles home, plug them in and get nearly 100 miles of use at a time. Their top speed, he said, will be about 45 miles per hour or so. He said other models will be forthcoming that will have a larger range. In 2004, less than 30,000 Hummers were sold against almost 54,000 Priuses. Three years later, Hummer sales dropped to 12,000, compared to over 500,000 Priuses. “The culture has changed,” said Crowley. “When we get up close to $4 or $5 a gallon for gasoline, people are looking at the use of their cars in a different light.” Scooters aren’t for everyone, said Crowley, and the market for electric cars is untested. But the market for Hummers hasn’t died out. “It’s zero financing, and I love the car,” said Jim Harrison, of Woodbury. “Simple as that, and I can afford it.”

Euro Group of Companies, Inc.’s (PINKSHEETS: EGCO) Europhone USA subsidiary has signed a 3-year agreement with Verizon Communications as an authorized agent of Verizon’s FiOS TV and FiOS Internet services, and Verizon High Speed Internet and voice services. Verizon FiOS is the brand name for the new services offered over Verizon’s advanced fiber-optic broadband network. Verizon is the only major telecom company that is installing fiber-optic lines directly to customers’ homes on a mass scale across the country.

Euro Group of Companies, Inc., the maker of Eugro Brand Full HD LCD 1080p Flat Screen Televisions, will market Verizon’s FiOS services alongside of Euro Group of Companies, Inc.’s state-of-the-art Eugro Full HD Flat Screen TVs at highly trafficked mall locations beginning in Northern New Jersey and Long Island, NY. The first three locations should be open by November 2007, in time for the holiday season.

Consumers will be able to purchase Eugro HD TVs with a deferred same as cash payment when visiting the Euro Group of Companies’ locations.

About Euro Grouop of Companies: Euro Group of Companies, Inc. is a public company with subsidiaries operating as manufacturers or distributors of: transportation vehicles, telecommunications handsets and services, and consumer electronics and durable goods. The structuring and strategic planning of this company has taken place over the past year in preparation for the launch of its products through distribution relationships similar to the Verizon Agreement.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this news release looking forward in time involve risks and uncertainties, including the risks associated with the effect of changing economic conditions, trends in the products markets, variations in the company’s cash flow, market acceptance risks, technical development risks, seasonality and other risk factors detailed in the company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings. Mention of any other companies not controlled by Euro Group of Companies, Inc. in the above press release does not imply endorsement, by those companies, of Euro Group of Companies, Inc. securities. Other than the brand of Eugro, all other brands mentioned or brands associated with companies mentioned in this press release are the property of those companies and are not owned by Euro Group of Companies, Inc.

Contact:
Euro Group of Companies, Inc. Media Relations
Glenn M Russo
Director of Financial Strategies
10 Midland Ave.
Port Chester, New York 10573
Email Contact
914-937-3900

Source: Market Wire (September 24, 2007 – 4:56 PM EST)