Gerald Alden "Jerry" Wiegert is an inventor, entrepreneur, automobile designer, and manufacturer. Born in Detroit, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

 he created the Vector, a high-performance sports car intended to be America's answer to European cars such as Ferrari

Ferrari

Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...

, Lamborghini

Lamborghini

Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A., commonly referred to as Lamborghini , is an Italian car manufacturer. The company was founded by manufacturing magnate Ferruccio Lamborghini in 1963, with the objective of producing a refined grand touring car to compete with established offerings from marques like...

, and Porsche

Porsche

Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....

. Wiegert also created the Aquajet personal watercraft.

The early years

Wiegert developed an interest in automobiles and aerospace

Aerospace

Aerospace comprises the atmosphere of Earth and surrounding space. Typically the term is used to refer to the industry that researches, designs, manufactures, operates, and maintains vehicles moving through air and space...

. During his high school years, he won a design contest that both financed design courses in college and encouraged him to pursue engineering as a career. In 1970 he began his career in the automotive industry by working for Chrysler

Chrysler

Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....

, Ford, and General Motors

General Motors

General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

 when he created Vehicle Design Force (VDF). The first car to be built by this company was called "The Vector." As is common with concept car

Concept car

A concept vehicle or show vehicle is a car made to showcase new styling and or new technology. They are often shown at motor shows to gauge customer reaction to new and radical designs which may or may not have a chance of being produced....

s, the first Vector was a full size design study. Wiegert announced that the Vector would use the Wankel rotary engine and that it would be priced at $100,000. The car appeared on the cover of Motor Trend

Motor Trend

Motor Trend is an American automobile magazine. It first appeared in September 1949, issued by Petersen Publishing Company in Los Angeles, and bearing the tag line "The Magazine for a Motoring World". Petersen Publishing was sold to British publisher EMAP in 1998, who sold the former Petersen...

 shortly after its debut, but never saw production.

Vector Motors

Wiegert is best known for creating Vector Motors, an American exotic aerospace related auto manufacturer, and is considered to be America's first supercar

Supercar

Supercar is a term used most often to describe an expensive high end car. It has been defined specifically as "a very expensive, fast or powerful car"...

. The Vector's design and appearance evolved in 1989, when the Vector W8

Vector W8

The Vector W8 was a sports car produced from 1989 to 1993. It was manufactured by Vector Aeromotive, and was designed by Gerald Wiegert and David Kostka...

 entered production.

Following a battle for control related to a hostile takeover, Wiegert won back the company assets, trademarks, and copyrights in the courts. Wiegert has revived the Vector brand name as of 2008 and is seeking investors for the new Vector Motors Company. Wiegert now holds all Vector assets. Wiegert has renamed his company Vector Motors and is producing a new sports car codenamed WX-8

WX-8

The Vector Avtech WX-8 is a two-seater coupe sports car scheduled for unveiling at the Los Angeles auto-show. It is powered by a supercharged, port fuel injected, 16 valve 7.0 litre V8 engine. The engine is expected to make over 1200 horsepower, but Vector claims output to be 1,400 to 2,000...

.

Aquajet

In the mid-1990s, Wiegert founded Aquajet, a personal watercraft company. Company literature claims that Aquajet's Jetbike models handle like "motorcycles for the water," with futuristic styling cues with the handling and feel of a motorcycle. The Jetbike has won many awards such as "Boating Week's Innovation Award Winner 2000" and "Winner of the National Marine Manufacturers Association's top product award". The Jetbike has been featured on "Beyond 2000", "The Extremists", "Planet X

Planet X

Following the discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846, there was considerable speculation that another planet might exist beyond its orbit. The search began in the mid-19th century but culminated at the start of the 20th with Percival Lowell's quest for Planet X...

", "Next Step", and on "C-Net".

External links

• Vector Supercars
• Aquajet official site
• Vector Aeromotive Club