V-Vehicle Reborn as Next Autoworks, With New CEO



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  • Kathleen Ligocki Picture

    Kathleen Ligocki Picture

    Kathleen Ligocki, former Ford executive and former CEO of Tower Automotive, will head the newly christened Next Autoworks, which aims — with impressive backers — to build a new small, fuel-efficient car for the U.S. market. | October 14, 2010


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V-Vehicle Reborn as Next Autoworks, With New CEO

Just the Facts:
  • V-Vehicle Company has been reorganized and renamed Next Autoworks.
  • Former Ford executive Kathleen Ligocki has been appointed CEO.
  • V-Vehicle had planned to build a natural-gas small car in Louisiana.

SAN DIEGO — Ill-starred V-Vehicle Company, the California-based startup that had planned to build energy-efficient cars at a former General Motors parts plant in Louisiana, has been rechristened Next Autoworks and reorganized, with former Ford executive Kathleen Ligocki appointed chief executive officer.

Ligocki is a highly regarded executive with management experience running Ford's Mexican and Canadian operations. She also served as president and CEO of Tower Automotive, leading the troubled U.S. auto parts suppliers through a restructuring and eventual sale to Cerberus Capital Management for $1 billion.

Ligocki's most recent industry job was running GS Motors, the automotive arm of Mexican conglomerate Grupo Salinas. That company's partnership with Chinese automaker FAW to build and sell cars in Mexico was dissolved a year ago.

At Next Autoworks, Ligocki will replace Ray Lane, a managing partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, who will continue as chairman at the auto startup. The Silicon Valley venture-capital firm also has provided financial backing for Fisker Automotive and for Think, the Norwegian-based EV manufacturer.

The former V-Vehicle was established by Frank Varasano, a longtime consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton and a former executive at software giant Oracle, with financial support from Kleiner Perkins and from Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, as well as from Google Ventures.

The company had planned to build a small car, designed by former Mazda chief designer Tom Matano and engineered to run on compressed natural gas. Pickens, who heads BP Capital Management, an energy-focused hedge fund, has been a vocal proponent of CNG.

Varasano was replaced as CEO earlier this year by Lane after V-Vehicle's request for $321 million in low-interest loans was rejected by the U.S. Department of Energy, which has provided funding to Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive.

Ligocki holds an MBA from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania.

In its most recent press release, Next Autoworks describes itself as "a new American car company that will introduce a safe, high-quality, fuel-efficient car for the U.S. market — at a very competitive price."

Inside Line says: Ligocki's presence will add credibility, prestige and experience to the company's executive team. — Paul Lienert, Correspondent

 

Buck

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