[3] Born March 9, 1939, in Philadelphia to Jewish parents,[citation needed] young Malcolm had one of his first jobs stretching hides in his family's furrier shop.

Malcom Bricklin[4]At the height of his success, he owned a desert ranch in Scottsdale, Ariz., and a 5,000-acre home in the Colorado Rockies with an indoor shooting range, a riverfront swimming pool, helipad, and pet camel.

At the meeting, Bricklin saw Fuji’s Subaru 360 mini-car, which got up to 60 miles to a gallon of gas and did not require federalizing in the United States because it weighed under 1,000 pounds.

[10] Subaru of America became the only import car company that was publicly traded, making small fortunes for Bricklin and COO Harvey Lamm.

[13] In 1971, Bricklin created a franchise named FasTrack, combining RV sales with shopping center parking lot race courses, where the public could drive one of 900 unsold Subaru 360s, modified by Bruce Myers.

The SV-1 protected occupants with a tubular steel perimeter frame, roll cage and a chassis capable of withstanding a high velocity impact without deformation.

[16] Car and Driver concluded that despite some build quality and ergonomic deficiencies, and a price disadvantage, the Bricklin was "a tangible threat to the Corvette.

"[14] Intended for the US market, the Bricklin SV1s were manufactured in Canada in the province of New Brunswick which sought to address its unemployment, nearing 25% in the mid-’70s.

[18] Production began in mid 1974 and continued through late 1975, employing over 1200 people in the Saint John and Minto, New Brunswick plants.

[14] In September 1975, after building 2,854 cars, and General Vehicles having set up over 400 US automobile dealers with 40,000 back orders, the Province refused to provide further financial assistance and forced the company into receivership.

[21] Seeking to import a simple, low cost car to the U.S. market, Bricklin was introduced to Zastava Automobiles, manufactured in Kragujevac Yugoslavia – now Serbia.

[22] Bricklin, senior advisor Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Under-Secretary of State and Yugo board member Lawrence Eagleburger, and Global Motors executives met with Zastava.

[27] At first, five models of Yugo were marketed in the United States for model year 1987: the basic entry-level $3,990-($9,363.69 in 2020) GV (for "Great Value"), the GVC with a glass sunroof, the nearly identical GVL and GVS with minor trim and upholstery upgrades, and the sportier GVX with the 1300 cc engine, five-speed manual transmission and standard equipment including a plush interior, ground-effects package, alloy wheels, rally lights, and a centre high mount stop lamp.

That smoothly, quietly and quickly took the bike to 15-20 MPH depending on the size of the rider with a range of about 17 miles before it needed a charge.

The EV Warrior came in seven colors, resembling a mountain bike with a large box behind the seat that straddled the rear wheel.

[33][34] This was roughly one-third the price of an inexpensive new car, and even a youth-oriented marketing campaign that included a super hero comic book (The EV Warriors) failed to generate enough interest.

[35] Beginning in 2002, Bricklin embarked on a three-year journey around the world to find a manufacturing partner to help him create a value brand in the US, examining the United Kingdom, India, Poland and after seeing their factory and meeting the executive staff, he decided to enter into an Importation Agreement with Chery Automobile Company,[36] which is located in the Anhui Province of China[37] and owned by the Provincial Anhui Government.

[38] Visionary Vehicles (now named VCars, LLC) entered into a joint venture in December 2004 to import five different models of cars into North America.

[41][42] Bricklin hired consultants, advisors and employees with financial and automotive experience, including Allen and company;[43] Atlantic Pacific Capital;[44] Ambassador van den Heuvel, former US Ambassador to the United Nations;[45] Maurice Strong, former United Nations undersecretary;[46] Ron Harbour, of Harbour Consultants, international automobile factory evaluators;[47] Marianne McInerney, former President of the International Automotive Dealers Association;[48] and Per Arnberg, President of Fram Shipowning, LTD, an international shipping company.

Dennis Gore, former Visionary Cars executive, used proprietary information to help Chery launch a joint venture with Quantum LLC.

The lawsuit against Chery Automobile[55] was arbitrated in Hong Kong and Visionary Vehicles received an award, subject to a confidentiality provision.