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BRIMOTO SELLING MEV ROCKET PROJECT
Toed64 - 9/7/16 at 04:47 PM

New on this forum, so can't post in the For Sale section.

However, this might be a good project for someone:

MEV ROCKET KIT CAR, BUSINESS FOR SALE including original tool, jigs and moulds

Slimy38 - 9/7/16 at 05:56 PM

Interesting. The Rocket always seemed to be quite a solid seller, I wonder how RTR managed to lose money on it.

dickie b - 9/7/16 at 07:40 PM

Oh thats just marvellous.. I was keenly awaiting the arrival of the Rocket 2 - the toyota engine really appealed to me.

I just hope it resurfaces soon

coyoteboy - 9/7/16 at 08:00 PM

12k for everything?!

Toed64 - 9/7/16 at 08:00 PM

They went bust twice with the MEV Rocket and now they are taking deposits for their next version of the Rocket, in breach of the licence agreement!

Great car, poor company management - possibly they took too much out.

Sad that Brimoto has decided not to run with it. Actually, I now hope that MEV will manufacture and market it now. Stuart and Julie were great to deal with when I built my Exocet. I think the Rocket deserves honourable and enthusiastic experts to run the project.

coyoteboy - 9/7/16 at 08:01 PM

12k for everything?!

Toed64 - 9/7/16 at 08:03 PM

quote:
Originally posted by dickie b
Oh thats just marvellous.. I was keenly awaiting the arrival of the Rocket 2 - the toyota engine really appealed to me.

I just hope it resurfaces soon



Me too... I have a great donor Corolla T Sport in the drive!

neilp1 - 9/7/16 at 08:17 PM

Well I might be miles away here, but I found it very strange that there was going to be a mev rocket 2 & an exo rocket 2 which I seen part built at stoneleigh. I also quite fancied one

ianhurley20 - 10/7/16 at 08:33 AM

I went with a friend to Stonleigh. He was hoping to order a Rocket 2 from Brian (Brimoto). It was very disappointing to find out from MEV that the launch had been postponed but then we found the relaunched stand of RTR who had ceased trading and suddenly resurfaced. Obviously the story they gave was different, it wasn't their fault, it was everyone elses, no one else should use the name Rocket 2 as they had already launched with that name. We both found the situation very unsatisfactory as there is yet another company that has the rights to a re-engineered Rocket in Italy? that was going to be sold as a fully built car.

Overall a very disappointing situation. How on earth such a potentially good car can be so mismanaged is beyond me. My friend has withdrawn from buying any kit car and may well end up with his third kit car being another Tiger (open day on the 30th) At least they are still around after several years

Toed64 - 10/7/16 at 11:02 AM

From reading about this on the MEV forum, Stuart Mills is not planning to pursue his old friends at RTR, he suggests that the market place is big enough.

Perhaps they will be third time lucky!

I'd hang on for the new MEV Rocket 2... or buy a R1ot, as I have done.

[Edited on 10/7/16 by Toed64]

designer - 10/7/16 at 08:52 PM

Funny how all these MEV designs come onto the market in a blaze of glory. as the best thing since sliced bread.
Then it's sold on and rarely seems makes any money.

Toed64 - 10/7/16 at 09:39 PM

quote:
Originally posted by designer
Funny how all these MEV designs come onto the market in a blaze of glory. as the best thing since sliced bread.
Then it's sold on and rarely seems makes any money.



If you look at the cars that MEV has launched and marketed, the Exocet is an extraordinary success. It is cheap, simple and they work well.

He's tried to put a roof on it, a windscreen, full bodywork and wet weather gear, a cage and he made a lightweight...and none of the of the tweaked cars sold in anything like the numbers. He has the sense to test the water and pull the plug if necessary.

russbost - 11/7/16 at 09:29 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Toed64
quote:
Originally posted by designer
Funny how all these MEV designs come onto the market in a blaze of glory. as the best thing since sliced bread.
Then it's sold on and rarely seems makes any money.



If you look at the cars that MEV has launched and marketed, the Exocet is an extraordinary success. It is cheap, simple and they work well.

He's tried to put a roof on it, a windscreen, full bodywork and wet weather gear, a cage and he made a lightweight...and none of the of the tweaked cars sold in anything like the numbers. He has the sense to test the water and pull the plug if necessary.


I think the Exocet is probably about the nearest current offering to what "locost" was supposed to be all about, Stuart is a very talented & dedicated guy, also a straightforward & honest person - he must also be either a workaholic or have no home/family life whatsoever to get done what he does!

Any projects he has sold have always been viable, they have to be sold relatively cheap, because otherwise no one would take them on - if you added up all the man hours etc. taken to get a car from idea to saleable product you'd be looking for about 50 - 100 grand & funnily enough I don't think they'd sell! (Anyone want to offer me £50k for the rights to the Furore? No, didn't think so!) it's down to the individual to then market these things according to how they want the company to work. The days of running a kitcar business as a standalone item are pretty much over (with a few exceptions), it nearly always needs to run alongside an existing fabrication or fibreglass business, or within an existing larger operation, where a bit of workshop space can come pretty much for free, or, as my car is largely for fun & hobby rather than for any significant profit.

Edited to add that I think the main reason RTR didn't make a success of things is that there were too many people, too much marketing expense & altogether too much razzamattaz & not enough down to the nitty gritty, I know nothing about Rocket2 or Exocet 2, but I do know I would think long & hard before putting my hand in my pocket with a deposit to someone who's already gone bust once (bearing in mind that when someone goes bust, it is rarely them that get hurt most!)



[Edited on 11/7/16 by russbost]

Adam - 12/7/16 at 01:13 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Toed64
They went bust twice with the MEV Rocket and now they are taking deposits for their next version of the Rocket, in breach of the licence agreement!

Great car, poor company management - possibly they took too much out.
.


Also a quote for another thread on another forum about the same subject that was created "Sensible... speculation is pointless, and foolish!"

Nobody really knows what happened with RTR and MEV and all the stories are getting a bit boring now. Yes RTR are no saints but nor are most kit car companies, there's always someone complaining about service. Companies go bang every day and re open, unfortunately its a way of life. As for taking too much out i personally know the owners had to take money out of their own houses to make sure the company fulfilled all existing orders before shutting up shop. Licenses for the Rocket was withdrawn and they have developed their own version..... how many versions of the lotus 7 are there????? as has been pointed out in the past, a bit of competition doesn't do any harm.

I hope someone picks up the rocket 2 again, but without knowing to full facts then i can comment if its a worthwhile business adventure, id be tempted myself. Brimto is a good company and well respected, so cant fault the bloke for putting it up for sale at this stage if he feels they cant make a go of it. Good luck in the sale is all i can say.

Cheers

Adam

Toed64 - 13/7/16 at 08:30 AM

Adam

My comment on the MEV forum: "Sensible... speculation is pointless, and foolish!" related to Brimoto. I had been pleased that another company had taken over the Rocket project and had only just learned of the Toyota 2ZZ running gear. It's a shame that Brimoto has decided that it cannot cope with production and I hope that another decent company takes over. I too wish Brimoto luck in this and respect the decision not to proceed with the project if it compromises or jeopardises the core business.

The same cannot be said for company directors who do not learn from their mistakes and just repeat them. Bankruptcy should not be a 'way of life'.

I hope the RTR guys are lucky and are successful in their venture. I was very impressed by the standard of the engineering work I saw in their workshop. There cannot be many people who have the will to throw their money and efforts into the same project time and time again.