Jamaica Exports First Locally Made Auto
And you thought the Yugo was dead....
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP)--Jamaica has added another export item besides sugar, rum and reggae: automobiles.
Excel Motors, a fledgling Jamaican automaker, exported the Caribbean island's first locally manufactured car to the Bahamas on Friday.
The two-door Island Cruiser, one of 22 built this year at the company's plant in western Jamaica, sells for $11,500.
The first order was placed by a Bahamian citizen who "fell in love'' with the car, said company director Patrick Marzouca, who called the sale "a proud milestone in the history of Jamaica.'' Other orders are pending from the Bahamas and Barbados.
"Many were of the view that a vehicle could never be manufactured locally, let alone exported,'' he said.
The car's box-like, fiberglass chassis is made with local materials, while the 1.5-liter engine is imported from Japan.
Hey, who am I to laugh at someone trying to do what previously had been thought impossible? Still, the comic relief potential here is almost through the roof....
