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Studebaker revival bid as hybrid

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Reed plans big things for a car company that produced some stylish vehicles ... Studebaker concept pictured.
Neil Dowling
Contributing Journalist
22 Feb 2012
2 min read

But details are sketchy and the patient may be in for a long recovery period.

Colorado-based clothing shop owner Ric Reed has bought the rights to the Studebaker car company that ended its life in 1966 after 64 years of vehicle manufacture.

Reed plans big things for a car company that produced some stylish vehicles, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s. But first he must find funding and then embark on his six-step plan that proposes the company first put its name to a range of Chinese scooters before moving into vehicle manufacture with hybrids. But even before that starts, Reed says on his website disclaimer that "we are almost ready to sell Studebaker shirts and hats."

Reed, who runs the Big Kahuna apparel company in Colorado, bought the rights to the Studebaker marque from his business partner. He says he wants to "revitalise Studebaker's classic labels like the Lark, President and Hawk."

"As the entrepreneur at the helm of Studebaker Motor Company, it is my earnest goal to create vehicles that are in some way reminiscent of classic Studebakers, or in other words, definitively Studebaker, yet brought into the 21st Century, and again to see Studebaker Motor Company the American Icon it once was," he says.

He says it is his dream to reopen the old Studebaker factories in Indiana and employ Americans. He also wants to make a hybrid car because he believes electric vehicles still need development - ironic given Studebaker's first cars in 1902 were electric.

Despite the 46 year gap since the demise of Studebaker, the marque is popular with enthusiasts. The US Studebaker Drivers Club, for example, has 12,000 members.

Neil Dowling
Contributing Journalist
GoAutoMedia Cars have been the corner stone to Neil’s passion, beginning at pre-school age, through school but then pushed sideways while he studied accounting. It was rekindled when he started contributing to magazines including Bushdriver and then when he started a motoring section in Perth’s The Western Mail. He was then appointed as a finance writer for the evening Daily News, supplemented by writing its motoring column. He moved to The Sunday Times as finance editor and after a nine-year term, finally drove back into motoring when in 1998 he was asked to rebrand and restyle the newspaper’s motoring section, expanding it over 12 years from a two-page section to a 36-page lift-out. In 2010 he was selected to join News Ltd’s national motoring group Carsguide and covered national and international events, launches, news conferences and Car of the Year awards until November 2014 when he moved into freelancing, working for GoAuto, The West Australian, Western 4WDriver magazine, Bauer Media and as an online content writer for one of Australia’s biggest car groups. He has involved himself in all aspects including motorsport where he has competed in everything from motocross to motorkhanas and rallies including Targa West and the ARC Forest Rally. He loves all facets of the car industry, from design, manufacture, testing, marketing and even business structures and believes cars are one of the few high-volume consumables to combine a very high degree of engineering enlivened with an even higher degree of emotion from its consumers.
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