Some semi-local news around here. Plasan also makes 'Vette carbon body panels.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20091230/NEWS02/912300373/1003/NEWS02
BENNINGTON – Plasan Carbon Composites is suing a Las Vegas company for what could be millions of dollars, claiming that the company has failed to pay for automobile parts including five specially made hoods for the car used in the “Knight Rider” television series.
In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the district of Vermont on Dec. 17, Plasan claimed that Shelby Automobiles Inc., a company based in Las Vegas, had failed to entirely pay for an order of about 1,750 kits of automobile parts and hadn’t paid anything toward what was called the “Knight Rider Hoods” or a delivery incentive program of about $44,000.
While the complaint does not request a specific amount of money in damages or describe how much of the order Plasan claims is unpaid, several e-mails sent as exhibits in the complaint claim that an order of 200 pieces costs $760,000. That would make the entire order of 1,747 worth about $6.6 million.
The complaint was filed by Walter Judge Jr. of Burlington law firm Downs, Rachlin, Martin PLLC, and Mahesh Nayah and Jonathon Martone of the Detroit law firm, Clark Hill PLC.
According to the complaint, Shelby outfits a special version of the Ford Mustang called the Shelby Mustang or the Shelby 500 GT. On its Web site, Ford hypes the model with the description, “If you’re a bit timid on the highway, you probably won’t want to consider the 2010 Shelby Mustang 500 GT.”
Plasan officials said they had an agreement in 2007 to produce sets of parts for the Shelby Mustang consisting of a hood, wind splitter and mirror covers. Wind splitters are a protruding piece on the front of a car designed to provide better traction and control. In April 2008, Plasan began to deliver the sets, according to the complaint.
Lawyers for Plasan said there was an incentive in place that required Shelby to pay extra.
“The employee incentive program (put into place to compensate (Plasan) for the tremendous effort and overtime necessary to produce as many sets as (Shelby) wanted as fast as (Shelby) wanted them) amounted to ($50) per set for meeting the 1,747 goal, a total of $87,350,” the complaint said.
However, on Dec. 10, 2008, both sides agreed to a one-week delay in delivery from Dec. 12, 2008, to Dec. 19, 2008, in exchange for reducing the incentive by half to $43,675, lawyers for Plasan said.
Plasan officials also maintain that they were asked to produce five Knight Rider hoods at a cost of $1,500 for each one.
“This was less than the cost of the other hoods (Plasan) was selling to (Shelby) because the Knight Rider hoods were being used in stunts and therefore were of a lesser quality and specification,” the complaint said.
“Knight Rider” was a television series that ran from 1982 to 1986 on NBC about a man who fought crime with the aid of a talking car, but the network revived the show in 2008. The revival, which used a Ford Shelby Mustang as the car known as KITT, was cancelled after a single season.
The lawyers who filed the complaint said it was filed in Vermont’s District Court because it was a complaint between two parties from different states, involved an amount more than $75,000 and because a “substantial part” of the chronology that led to the complaint took place in Vermont.
As of Tuesday there has not yet been a response filed by Shelby Automobiles to the complaint.
Plasan Carbon Composites is one of two manufacturers in Bennington under the same parent company of Plasan Sasa of Israel. Plasan Carbon Composites makes automobile parts while Plasan North America makes armor for military vehicles.
Plasan North America was part of a winning bid with the Oshkosh Corp. of Wisconsin, for a contract now worth about $3.3 billion to produce about 6,600 vehicles for the U.S. armed forces.