Vector
The American car company Vector Motors Company was founded in Wilmington, California. Its beginnings may be discovered with Gerald Wiegert's 1978 founding of Vehicle Design Force. Vector Aeromotive started manufacturing cars in 1989 and stopped in 1993. Later, the business was resurrected as Vector Motors Corporation, and it has kept on creating sports cars. When it was established, Vector was America's first effort to take on European sports car producers like Ferrari and Lamborghini. A total of 50 Vector sports vehicle models, including several racing variants, were created and produced between the 1980s and 1990s, with most of the parts coming from US manufacturers.
The business assigns the letter "W" (for Wiegert) and a number to almost every vehicle it produces. A prototype unit is identified by the letter "X" following the W (for example, WX-8).
It was revealed in August 2018 that the business was still working on the WX-8, a brand-new car that belongs to the so-called "hyper car" category that was initially announced and unveiled as a prototype model in 2007.
Jerry Wiegert, the company's founder, primary owner, chief executive, main designer, and engineer, passed away in January 2021 at the age of 76, casting doubt on the future of the corporation and corporate entity. Since then, the Wilmington factory and the warehouse where supplies and inventory were kept have been cleaned out. The company's official website was no longer in use as of Fall 2021 and its domain registration has expired.
Gerald Wiegert, a recent college graduate, created Vehicle Design Force, a design firm, and collaborated with Lee Brown, a well-known auto body expert in Hollywood, to develop a brand-new vehicle dubbed The Vector. The preproduction literature for the Vector stated that it would cost US$100,000 (at the time, a new Lamborghini Miura cost $21,000) and that it would have a variety of powertrain choices, including a DOHC Porsche engine.
Although a concept prototype of the Vector was on show at the 1976 LA Auto Show and the automobile was featured on the cover of Motor Trend magazine in April 1972, it was never put into production. In 1977, Lee Brown quit the design group. Vehicle Design Force was changed to "Vector Aeromotive" by Wiegert when the research for the prior vehicle was shifted to a new vehicle, the Vector W2.