“The name of the company is American Bantam Car Corp. There was never any question: American Bantam® off-road vehicles will definitely be Made in USA.”

Charlie Paglee, CEO, American Bantam Car Corp.

From the very beginning way back in 2010 our plan has always been to manufacture American Bantam® off-road vehicles in the USA. Our strategy is to begin manufacturing off-road vehicles in the USA while we engineer compliance with USA automotive regulations for a completely new street-legal off-road vehicle. The decision was simple: when a company’s name contains the word “American” the products they sell in the USA must be built in the USA. No two ways about it.

American Bantam Car Corp. is a USA owned company with a long American history and strong American heritage. American Bantam® was founded by Charlie Paglee, combining the resources of an 88 year old company with an 80 year old automotive marquee to relaunch the brand that invented the Jeep.

When we say “American” we mean United States of American, not Canada, not Mexico, but good ol’ USA. American Bantam® has already met with half a dozen different USA state governments to explore building a factory in the USA. Our plan is to purchase a factory facility in 2021 and fit out our facility to begin manufacturing American Bantam® street-legal off-road vehicles in 2022. USA manufactured American Bantam® vehicles will supply the USA and Europe.

American Bantam® will launch our line of off-road vehicles based on the original WW2 era BRC-40 Bantam® Reconnaissance Car. We have re-engineered the original vehicle to improve safety and performance with a full six-point roll cage, safety seats, seat belts, laminated safety glass, coil over spring fixed axle rear suspension and a fully independent front-suspension. Our new vehicle will include a modern direct fuel-injected engine fully compliant with California CARB and EPA off-road vehicle emission requirements to provide excellent 2-wheel drive and 4-wheel drive performance. Off-road vehicles don’t require crash testing which will allow us to go to market sooner.

American Bantam® off-road vehicle bodies will always be built by American workers, not by robots, using manually operated spot-welders and MIG welders. American Bantam® off-road vehicles may one day literally be the last automobiles manufactured by humans beings in the USA.

1. Who is American Bantam?

American Bantam® is a heritage mobility brand, building cutting edge 4WD plug-in hybrid-electric powertrain technology to propel the off-road industry into the 21st century. Our USA manufactured Clean Off-Road™ vehicles will offer the performance, durability and price point of off-road-only UTVs, will be street-legal to drive on highways and will exceed automotive safety and emissions regulations to keep wilderness clean.

 

2. Why American Bantam. Why did you decide to relaunch American Bantam® Car Corp?

American Bantam is returning to the design objective of the original jeep that American Bantam invented for the US Army in 1940. Off­­‑road UTVs are hugely popular in the USA, but they have terribly dirty emissions, are not legal to drive on roads in most states and are not legal to drive on federal highways in any state. Off-Road SUVs are heavy, gentrified, expensive and are no longer built for farmers or off-road enthusiasts. American Bantam aims to fill the market vacuum between UTV’s and off-road SUVs and supply a huge global market for vehicles in the middle that are powerful, durable, lightweight, easy to repair with clean emissions that will drive anywhere.

 

3. American Bantam® Brand. What is your connection with the original American Bantam?

We set out to build street-legal Clean Off-Road™ vehicles that meet the design objectives of the original World War 2 jeeps. We explored a relaunch of the brand that invented of the original World War 2 jeep, tracked down Roy Evans’ descendants, acquired the Bantam® trademark, and started designing the new BRC-20, BRC-22 and BRC-25 Clean Off-Road™ vehicles.

 

4. Clean Off-Road? What is Clean Off-Road? Isn’t driving in the wilderness clean by definition?

Present EPA regulations allow off-road UTVs to emit 11 times the HC+CO+NOx gasses emitted by gasoline automobiles. ATVs and UTVs also are not required to get annual emissions inspections, so after a few years emissions usually get worse. American Bantam® Clean Off-Road™ vehicles are legal to drive on roads and highways with emissions 11 times cleaner than your average UTV.

 

5. Green Field. Describe how you are creating the Clean Off-Road™ greenfield market.

Tesla realized amazing success by going after a greenfield market that no other competitors were seriously pursuing. Even in 2017 other auto makers were still claiming consumers didn’t want electric vehicles, until Tesla started eating their lunch and they realized Tesla’s vision was right. Jeep® started to exit the utility off-road vehicle market in 1987. No automobile competitors are seriously engaging with the street-legal utility off-road market. The first automaker to specifically target off-road enthusiasts and utility off-road vehicles and begin to manufacture street-legal Clean Off-Road™ vehicles that consumers want will dominate this market for a long time.

 

6. UTV Competition. Couldn’t UTV manufacturers also build street-legal Clean Off-Road™ UTVs?

It would be very difficult. UTV manufacturers lack the automotive engineering expertise to design street-legal vehicles. Potential UTV competitors would be forced to spend more than $100 Million and three years to catch up to American Bantam®. First, they would need to start a new clean engine development program from scratch. UTV competitors are not seriously addressing UTV emissions, and probably won’t, until forced to by the federal government.

 

7. Target Market. What is the American Bantam® target customer

American Bantam’s mission is to return to the original jeep design strategy: light-weight, fuel efficient, ultimate off-road performance. Off-Road Utility Terrain Vehicles (UTVs) began to appear in 1988 to fill the void caused by Chrysler discontinuing the CJ-7 a year earlier. Today UTVs have replaced jeeps in many markets, but UTVs are only legal to drive on rural roads in 22 states and are not legal to drive on highways in any state.

 

8. Global Brand. What value do you place on the American Bantam® brand?

American Bantam® Clean Off-Road™ vehicles represent the freedom to go anywhere and over­come any obstacle. American Bantam® will grow to become an incredibly powerful Lifestyle brand with global popularity. Much of Stelantis’ Jeep® trademark value is based on the deliberate misperception that Willys-Overland invented the Jeep during WW2. In 2020 FCA valued their “Jeep” trademark at USD $28 Billion. American Bantam®, Clean Off-Road™ and other trademark properties have the potential to become multi-billion-dollar assets.

 

9. Vertical Market. Why does American Bantam® focus on the UTV vertical market?

Chrysler has done an outstanding job transforming Jeep® into a very valuable lifestyle brand. By their own admission they don’t manufacture jeeps as a type of vehicle any longer: they build Jeep® brand SUVs. Stellantis Jeep® brand SUV customers have come to expect luxury and comfort, while most real off-road enthusiasts drive UTVs, or Wranglers or other SUVs heavily that are heavily modified to drive off-road. UTVs regularly outsell Jeep® Wranglers by about 2.5 to 1 annually in the USA. American Bantam® is pursuing the bigger vertical market.

 

10. Growing Market. Are you sure UTVs outsell Jeep® Wranglers?

American Bantam® is focused on off-road utility and off-road enthusiast markets that the global automotive industry is ignoring. American Bantam® is focusing on the higher volume market; numbers don’t lie:

 

Annual Jeep Wrangler USA sales:                ~175,000 units

Annual UTV USA sales:                                  ~450,000 units

 

11. Vertical Market. Why is American Bantam focusing on a vertical segment in the car industry?

Market studies predict the entire human-driven automobile industry will eventually become a vertical market. Autonomous vehicles driven by artificial intelligence are already being tested and when they are widely deployed human-driven automobiles will become a vertical market. The remaining human driven vehicles will be divided into four key segments: (a) Utility / Work, (b) Off‑Road, (c) Sports cars, (d) Specialty cars. Utility / work vehicles will eventually be replaced by autonomous vehicles, simply because autonomous will be safer, more convenient and cheaper to insure. In the not too distant future off‑road vehicles may become the largest human-driven automobile segment, an outstanding opportunity for American Bantam® Clean Off-Road™.

 

12. Powertrains. What is the American Bantam® powertrain options?

American Bantam® will sell vehicles with three different drivetrain solutions: (a) 6-speed Manual Transmission, (b) 7-speed Automatic Transmission, (c) Plug-in P2 Hybrid-Electric 7-Speed Automatic Transmission. We have a full-electric vehicle Clean Off-Road™ vehicle design in our roadmap to meet that very vertical niche market which we will disclose at a later date.

 

13. Hybrid Off-Road. What are the advantages of a hybrid powertrain for off-road vehicles?

Hunters, farmers and off-road enthusiasts all demand the same basic features: performance, light weight, extended range, fuel economy, durability and climbing torque. The instant torque from the electric motor in our hybrid-electric powertrain delivers incredible climbing capability on rocks, sand and in mud. Our smaller battery pack weighs 10% of what an extended range battery in a fully-electric 4WD pickup weighs, while our fuel-efficient turbocharged gasoline engine provides unlimited range, dependent only on the number of auxiliary fuel tanks.

 

14. Engine Specifications. What are the specifications of the American Bantam® engine?

The American Bantam® 1.6-liter turbocharged gasoline direct injection TGDI engine was designed by FEV, the German engine designer that helped engineered the Ford EcoBoost engine that won the world’s best small engine 6 years straight. American Bantam’s TGDI engine technology is especially tuned to deliver torque over horsepower, supplying more horsepower and more torque than the 4.0 liter 6‑cylinder engine in a 2000 Jeep® Wrangler, at less than half the weight.

 

15. Hybrid Advantages. What are the advantages of Hybrid Electric over Pure Electric?

American Bantam’s hybrid powertrain adds only 485 pounds to vehicle curb weight with 10% of the battery weight used by an extended-range Rivian or Hummer 4WD EV. Our 4‑door Plug-In Hybrid Electric BRC-22e will weigh half of what a Rivian RT1 pickup weighs with an MSRP at less than half and with an unlimited driving range. Driving up mountains or through sand is a function of torque divided by weight, so instant torque from the hybrid electric motor on a lightweight vehicle delivers performance that off-road enthusiasts demand.

 

16. Electric Vehicles. Why not build Electric Off-Road Vehicles?

Weight and lack of charging stations. American Bantam’s focus is vehicles designed to be driven off-road, with clean emissions that are legal to drive on streets and highways all over the world. Our products meet the needs of customers who drive our vehicles into very unfriendly environments, so they must be light weight, rugged, durable, fuel efficient, reliable and easy to refuel. There are no charging stations in the middle of a desert, in a jungle, in the middle of the tundra or on a huge ranch, where fully electric off-road vehicles really don’t make too much sense. Also, hauling a 1,000-pound high energy-density battery mounted to the bottom of an off-road vehicle is not very practical or safe when driving off-road driving up mountains in rocky terrain.

 

17. Public Benefit. Does American Bantam® have any plan to give back to society?

American Bantam’s corporate charter includes mandates requiring corporate policy that will have a positive impact on society and on the environment. Specifically, American Bantam® has adopted a Public Benefit Corporate Statement which promises to protect the environment, bring manufacturing jobs to the USA, promote education and manufacture vehicles in a sustainable manner. This is part of our Certificate of Incorporation, so it is nearly impossible to change.

 

18. Clean Gasoline? How can you claim to protect the environment with gasoline cars?

American Bantam® Clean Off-Road™ vehicles are street-legal and therefore must comply with EPA automobile emissions regulations. Our TGDI engine technology meets the California Air Resource Board (CARB) emissions regulations, stricter than EPA. Every American Bantam® off‑road vehicle sold in the USA that replaces an off-road UTV is equivalent to removing the emissions capacity of ten gasoline engine automobiles.

 

19. Regulatory Change. Will American Bantam® lobby to change UTV emissions regulations?

Politics is not part of the American Bantam® business model. We will advertise our vehicles as cleaner than the competition, but we will leave it up to consumers to decide what product they want to buy. Today there are no street-legal alternatives to UTVs that offer UTV performance, durability and price point. American Bantam® Clean Off-Road™ vehicles will change that.

 

20. USA Market. What demand do you see for Clean Off-Road™ in the USA?

American Bantam® Clean Off-Road™ vehicles are street-legal to drive on all USA roads and highways while UTVs are only legal to drive on rural roads in 22 states and not legal to drive on federal highways in any state. COVID caused UTV inventories to sell out in early 2020 as more people wanted to escape the cities and enjoy the great outdoors. This trend to avoid populated areas is likely to continue. We believe the market for UTVs in the USA is far more than 500,000 vehicles per year. American Bantam® Clean Off-Road™ vehicles have the potential to more than double the UTV market and American Bantam® will offer the only street-legal UTV vehicle.

 

21. Manufacturing. Where will American Bantam® manufacture its vehicles?

American Bantam® will manufacture Clean Off-Road™ vehicles in the United States, in China, and possibly in other countries. American Bantam® will initially manufacture vehicles in China under a contract manufacturing relationship with a Chinese manufacturing partner. American Bantam® is presently in negotiations to acquire factories in both the United States and in China.

 

22. China Launch. Is American Bantam® planning to sell vehicles in China first?China has a vehicle classification called Type 2 Off-Road which was drafted especially for street-legal off-road vehicles. Type 2 Off-Road vehicles are not required to be crash tested, do not need airbags and do not need Electronic Stability Protection. This makes sense because drivers don’t necessarily want those features when driving off-road; vehicles manufactured in the USA will include an extra key to turn these features off when driving off-road. We are able to launch vehicles in China a year earlier because China has this special Type 2 Off-Road class of vehicles.

 

23. China Market. Is there a demand for Clean Off-Road™ in China?

Off-roading is a strong vertical market in China. China’s Off-Road Heroes enthusiast club at one point had 17 Million unique IP addresses visit their website every month. Off-road enthusiast groups today are even more prolific on WeChat. Off-road vehicles sold in China must be street-legal, so UTVs are not legal to drive on any roads in China. Today it costs over $80,000 to purchase and outfit an off-road vehicle in China. China’s 400 Million strong middle class loves to travel, but most can’t afford to spend $80,000 on a toy. The market for a $25,000 to $35,000 American Bantam® Clean Off-Road™ vehicle is at least as big as the USA market: 500,000 units per year.

 

24. Global Market. Will American Bantam® sell vehicles outside the USA and China?

Absolutely. American Bantam’s goal is to manufacture lightweight Clean Off-Road™ vehicles with 4WD Plug-In Hybrid-Electric powertrains that offer the best performance in the off-road industry: better than gasoline Jeep® SUVs, Ford Broncos or Land Rover Defenders. We divide the world into Enthusiast Markets including the US, China, Australia and the EU and Emerging Markets including central and south America, Africa and Asia. We believe there is a market for another 1.2 Million annual vehicle sales outside North America and China.

 

25. Made in China. Will Bantam® import Chinese parts and just do final assembly in the USA?

Initially American Bantam® will bring stamped body panels and other components from overseas, including from China. Our Public Benefit Corporate Statement in our Certificate of Incorporation mandates that we “Manufacture products in the USA using American employees and American part suppliers in an effort to bring factories and manufacturing jobs back to the United States and support startup manufacturing enterprises in the United States”.

 

26. American Employees? Will American Bantam® just build a factory filled with robots?

American Bantam® vehicles being manufactured in China right now include parts made in the USA. American Bantam® vehicle bodies will be welded in the USA using manual spot-welders and American labor. Bodies and frames will be galvanized, painted and assembled in the USA. We will work with local educa­tional institutions near each production facility to train new factory workers. We will always choose American part manufacturers over imported parts when pricing, quality and manufacturing capacity match overseas suppliers.

 

27. Global Manufacturing. Will American Bantam® manufacture vehicles in other countries?

We won’t rule it out. We have explored the possibility, but right now we are focusing on manufacturing in in the USA and in China to start. If other national governments come to us with the right incentives, we will certainly consider expanding manufacturing into other countries.

 

28. Environmental Impact. Explain how dirty present day UTV emissions really are.

Every year 1.25 Million ATVs and UTVs are sold in the USA as nonroad vehicles with 11 times the emissions of gasoline automobiles, the equivalent of 13.75 Million automobiles, very close to the 14.4 Million cars sold in the USA in 2021. UTV engines cannot exceed 1.0-liter displacement and cleaner emissions reduce power and torque, so UTV manufacturers have a financial incentive NOT to clean-up emissions. Outdoor enthusiast customers prefer cleaner emissions, just as long as they don’t have to sacrifice power. Because American Bantam® Clean Off-Road™ vehicles are street-legal, our engines can exceed 1.0-liter and deliver the power and torque customers crave.

 

29. Societal Impact. How will American Bantam® “create a material positive impact on society?”Off-road vehicle consumers care more about durability and off-road performance than fit and finish. UTV competition sells welded steel-tube frames with loose-fitting plastic body panels. Hand welded American Bantam® Clean Off-Road™ vehicles can be manufactured with far fewer robots, and still meet the quality requirements UTV customers demand, while creating well-paying manufacturing jobs for American citizens, reducing up-front investment in robots and reducing investment risk. American Bantam® will train and employ thousands of welders.

 

30. Thousands of Welders? How will American Bantam® make money?

Employing low-skilled labor to weld American Bantam® vehicle bodies will have an undeniably positive impact on American society. Other USA automakers are reducing employee headcount by using robots and by moving jobs to Mexico. American Bantam® will build vehicles in the USA using American labor because we know those jobs bring wealth to our communities. American Bantam® will showcase the positive impact Made in USA jobs have on communities where our vehicles and components are manufactured and offset increased labor costs as a marketing expense. Studies show American Bantam customers will value our Made in USA marketing model.

Charlie Paglee opened up the China division of Brannan Auto in 2007 and became the Chairman of the USA headquarters, Brannan Auto Parts, Inc., in 2010. In 2019 Mr. Paglee became the Chairman of American Bantam Car Corporation after merging with the Brannan Auto USA and Brannan Auto China corporate entities.

Mr. Paglee is recognized as an automotive industry expert by the China State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs. He also serves as the Chair of the Shanghai International Auto Group and the co-chair of the China Autonomous Vehicle Experts Group.

Born and raised in Maryland, USA, Mr. Paglee earned an Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Auburn University in 1992. Mr. Paglee studied in the Juris Doctor/MBA program at University of Maryland graduating in 1998.

Mr. Paglee relocated to China in 1993 and was one of the first foreigners involved in the off-roading community in China. He speaks fluent Chinese Mandarin and after living in China for more than two decades he has developed skills which give him a special advantage when doing business in China.

After completing his graduate studies Mr. Paglee worked as a senior executive in the telecom industry while continuing to pursue his passion for automotive manufacturing and off-road adventure in China. In 2007, after selling the telecom company which he founded, Mr. Paglee returned to the automobile industry full time.

Mr. Paglee is active in a number of charities and in the expatriate community in Shanghai. When Mr. Paglee is not working he is usually spending time with his family, offroading or playing sports with friends.

In 1927 Roy S. Evans, a native of Atlanta, Georgia, USA started what would become the largest nationwide network of used car dealerships. After the Wall Street crash of 1929 Mr. Evans began buying large inventories of surplus cars directly from automobile manufacturers. In 1932 when Mr. Evans heard about the American Austin he purchased their entire inventory of 1,500 vehicles and shipped them south to Atlanta and then on to his network of dealerships in Georgia and Florida. When inventory ran out Mr. Evans bought all remaining Austin parts from the suppliers’ warehouses and assembled new cars, and when parts were missing he invented new models, like the American Austin pickup.

James F. Brannan, also a native of Atlanta, Georgia, USA worked for Ford Motor Co. throughout the 1930s and started privately distributing Galion Dump Truck conversions for Ford trucks in 1932. In 1934 as a publicity stunt Mr. Brannan became the first person to drive an off-road vehicle, a modified Galion Ford Dump Truck no less, to the top of Stone Mountain near Atlanta. The publicity stunt made Brannan very well known in the Atlanta automotive industry and with Mr. Brannan’s experience modifying trucks he was the ideal person for Roy Evans to turn to when he needed American Bantam® trucks modified in the Atlanta area.

From 1932 onward all new American Austins were built for and purchased by Roy Evans, cunningly fronting the production money to the factory at an annual interest rate of 130 percent. On June 29, 1934, American Austin filed for bankruptcy and production ended in December, 1934 with just shy of 20,000 vehicles built over five years.

In 1935 Mr. Evans incorporated the American Bantam Car Co. and signed a deal to acquire $10 Million in American Austin assets for $5,000 in cash. At the last minute another bidder interested in the American Austin assets filed a lawsuit but Evans prevailed and completed the acquisition in 1936. Evans wanted to launch the American Bantam® with a more modern design and so he sought the help of Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, the original designer of the Austin. The Austin engine was also modified so American Bantam® would no longer have to pay the license fee to Austin. American Bantam® engineers added an extra set of bearings to improve reliability and increase power. American Bantam® car production launched in 1937.

The last American Bantam® car rolled out the doors of the Butler, Pennsylvania factory on August 18, 1943.  The company manufactured amphibious utility trailers and aerial torpedoes during the war. Roy Evans, Harold Crist and many of the other true “car guys” left American Bantam® in the mid 1940s.