Cunningham Kaput- Even Lutz Can't Make It Happen- Too Bad

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Chicago , November 4, 2002; Jeremy Grant wrting for FT reports that plans by General Motors and others investors to resurrect one of the most famous marquees in US car racing, the Cunningham, have been abandoned after a legal tussle involving a descendant of the car's founder.

Hopes had been high two years ago when GM vice chairman Bob Lutz - Detroit's most respected car developer - decided to develop a new Cunningham equipped with a V12 engine to compete against existing ultra-luxury sports cars produced by Ferarri and Aston Martin.

The initial price tag had been expected to be $250,000 and there were plans for annual production of 500-600 vehicles. In its heyday in the 1950s, the Cunningham achieved some success at Le Mans and at the Sebring and Watkins Glen race tracks in the US.

Mr Lutz teamed up with Briggs Cunningham III, a descendant of the founder of Rochester, New York-based Cunningham and Son, a manufacturer of horse-drawn carriages, and invested at least $750,000 of his own money.

GM, the world's largest motor vehicle manufacturer, invested $2m in seed capital. Had the car been successful, it would have provided GM with a vehicle at the ultra-luxury end of its product portfolio.

DaimlerChrysler, the German carmaker, this year underscored its confidence in a growing market for ultra high-end passenger cars when it unveiled plans for reviving the Maybach, an old German brand that had lain dormant since the 1930s.

The Maybach unveiled in New York in the summer is expected to hit showrooms before the end of the year in Europe, arriving in the US in the spring of next year. About 1,000 units will go on sale annually, costing about EU350,000 ($348,774).

Mr Cunningham had sued Mr Lutz, GM and other investors alleging he was misled and forced to sell his shares in the new car company at $1 each to pay off a loan he took out for seed capital.

With initial funds drying up rapidly and the legal dispute discouraging any fresh investors, it was decided to abandon the project.