When Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal announced that a startup automaker based in San Diego will build a new line of fuel-efficient cars in Monroe, LA, nobody was more surprised than some folks at Cleantech San Diego.
The V-Vehicle Company, founded in 2006 by former Oracle executive Frank Varasano, says it “will produce a high-quality, environmentally friendly, and fuel-efficient car for the U.S. market.” But where did this secretive company come from? Why is it based in San Diego? And how green is V-Vehicle? The company provided no details about the car itself, such as what type of fuel it will use or specifically why it is environmentally friendly.
“We’re trying to be protective of the things we need to be (because of potential competition),” Varasano told reporters at the briefing in Monroe, LA. The only other tidbit disclosed is that Tom Motano, who’s credited with designing Mazda’s MX-5 Miata, is leading the V-Vehicle design team.
The news naturally piqued the curiosity of some board members at CleanTech San Diego, a non-profit industry group formed to accelerate the region’s legions of green technology and alternative energy companies. One CleanTech San Diego board member told me he wonders what the ‘V’ in V-Vehicle stands for: V-8? Victory? Virtual? Vaporware?
“Most people think it stands for Varasano,” says Joe Fisher, a spokesman for the company. (Before his stint at Oracle, V-Vehicle’s founding CEO was an engineering and manufacturing practice leader at Booz Allen Hamilton. Varasano earned his M.B.A. from Harvard, and served aboard the nuclear submarine Patrick Henry after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy.) But Fisher says the V instead refers to “value.”
Another question: Why is V-Vehicle’s headquarters in San Diego? A little online research shows V-Vehicle’s corporate headquarters is on 16th street, just east of the Padres’ new baseball stadium downtown. But there’s not much to see at the refurbished gray two-story building, with its Art Deco-inspired façade. Fisher says that’s easy to explain: V-Vehicle is based in San Diego because Varasano lives here.
Among other tantalizing facts observers are pondering is that V-Vehicle’s investors include the famed Silicon Valley venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which also has invested in Fisker Automotive, the Irvine, CA, company developing the $80,000 Fisker Karma, a plug-in hybrid electric luxury car. Kleiner managing partner and former Oracle President Ray Lane, who also serves on the boards at Fisker and electric carmaker Th!nk North America, is chairman of V-Vehicle’s board.
Perhaps because of Kleiner Perkins’ backing, at least one
