Local Customs

01 Mar 2009

Local Customs

Re: James Koch (MBA 1978); Jay Rogers (MBA 2007)

Topics: Entrepreneurship-General Innovation-Technological Innovation Business Ventures-Business Startups Transportation-General

Jay Rogers (MBA ’07), whose grandfather once owned the legendary Indian Motorcycle company, also has some wheels turning. “Rogers dreams of opening fifty ‘microfactories’ around the globe, each building 2,000 units a year of cars customized to fit different regions’ local tastes,” the Boston Herald reported (December 15, 2008).

Invoking the sudsy success story of Jim Koch (MBA ’74), another entrepreneurial HBS alum, Rogers declared, “We want to be the Sam Adams of the auto world.” Rogers launched his Massachusetts-based company, Local Motors, with $4 million in start-up capital; its online contest (LocalMotors.com/competition.php) invites the public in various cities and regions to pick their favorite, locally relevant car design. One leading entrant is “The Rally Fighter,” a $50,000 off-road racer for the desert Southwest that Rogers hopes to bring to market in the fall.

A former Marine and an Iraq veteran, Rogers thinks the Big Three’s troubles offer an opportunity. “Technology has changed over the past 100 years. We no longer need to build cars the way Henry Ford once did.”