Jamaica adds cars to export list

First it was sugar, rum and reggae. Now, Jamaica has added another export item to its resume: automobiles. Excel Motors, a fledgling Jamaican automaker, exported  the Caribbean island’s first locally manufactured car to The Bahamas on Friday. The two-door “Isl-and Cruiser,” one of 22 built this year at the company’s plant in western Jamaica, comes in hard or soft-top models and sells for roughly Jamaican $700,000 (US$12 300). The first order was placed by a Baha-mian citizen who “fell in love” with the car, said company director Patrick Marzouca, who called the sale “a proud milestone in the history of Jamaica.” Other orders are pending.

“Many were of the view that  a vehicle could never be manufactured locally, let alone exported,” he said. “Our work  . . . is proof of the capabilities  of Jamaicans in the face of insurmountable difficulties.” Sugar is Jamaica’s third  largest source of foreign income after tourism and mining, and  is the country’s largest employer with more than 50,000 direct  jobs despite a decline in  production levels. Excel Motors, which opened in 1996, hired German automotive engineer Hans Fleis-cher to help design the Island Cruiser. The box-like, fibreglass chassis  is made with local materials, while the 1.5-litre engine is imported  from Japan. The 2003 line comes  in four colours, manual or  automatic transmission, with optional air-conditioning. So far, sales have been moderate, but a rental business in tourist areas is starting to grow, Marzouca said.