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Dream Delayed For Colorado Hybrid Sports Car

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Aug 26, 2009 8:39 pm US/Mountain

Dream Delayed For Colorado Hybrid Sports Car

Written by Environmental Specialist Paul Day

Reporting
Paul Day
LOVELAND, Colo. (CBS4) ― Shaped like a bullet, it's a home-grown sports car like no other out there, but the production of the dream has been delayed.

"We're looking at a car that will do 0 to 60 in under 6 seconds," said Dan Johnson, founder of Lightning Hybrids of Loveland.

When fully developed with a turbo diesel power plant, Johnson says the car will also be capable of fantastic fuel economy of up to 100 miles per gallon.

But making it happen hasn't been easy.

"Really thought we'd be a little further along," conceded Johnson.

Back in early April, at the time of the Denver Auto Show, Johnson expected his 10-employee company would double in size by the end of summer; but it didn't work out that way. Lightning Hybrids has not grown because the venture capital market has dried up.

"I was hoping we'd have some funding in the door, state, federal or private equity funding, but we really don't," said Johnson.

The company's original plan called for the sports car to be ready for market by the spring of 2011, but that's had to be delayed because of the recession. So Lightning Hybrids has come up with a new emphasis. The same hydraulic boost system on the sports car is now being adapted for use on fleet vehicles.

Denver International Airport has provided a truck for testing. Lightning figures by retrofitting trucks, it can improve gas mileage by up to 10 percent. But once again, the fledgling car maker needs cash.

"We're out there looking for partners for sponsors who can help us get to that. We're also looking into the Recovery Act Funding that is available," said Bonnie Trowbridge, Vice President of Marketing for Lightning Hybrids.

The company is hoping to get traction in the truck-retrofitting market first, then turn its attention to building and selling a sports car that does what no other can do.

(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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