MB:We'll have a 3-foot monitor that will have a visual inventory of all the galleries. The monitor has a billion dollars worth of art on it and goes to the collectors who buy $50,000 worth of art from the group. They get that monitor in their home for a dollar a year [to help buy more artwork available through the dealers' galleries]. We have created the first true secondary market for art. This was created because my wife, Sania Teymeny, is an artist, so it comes from the artist's point of view. (Bricklin originally wanted to cap 3EV dealerships at 96, all of which would also have to open art galleries, but now says he needs 154 additional car dealers to meet perceived demand for the 3EV.)

AM: So, you're combining your love—cars—with your wife's.

MB:Keeps a happy marriage. But everything I've ever done in the car business I start from the philosophy of "Can I sell it?" With Subaru, it was the cheapest car back in 1968. With the Yugo, it was the cheapest car back in 1985. And with the Bricklin, it was the least expensive, really cool sports car back in 1974. The Chinese cars I was planning on bringing in until we got screwed was a car that should sell for $30,000 or $35,000 but that we could sell for $20,000.

AM: Your new electric vehicle is a three-wheeler ...

MB:By building a three-wheeler I knock a thousand pounds off the weight of a car. … That's 20 or 25 kilowatts I don't have to put in to go the same distance. When you have a three-wheeler that has wide front wheels and a relatively short body but long wheelbase, you have an amazingly fun-driving car. Suppose we designed gorgeous cars, the kind of cars that when you look at them you immediately think of them as $150,000, $200,000, $300,000 cars. Suppose those cars could retail for 25 grand. After everybody stops you and asks what it is, you say, "I only paid $25,000," because it makes you look smart instead of feeling poor.

AM: What is the recharge time and the range?