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In June of 1999 when Corbin Motors, Inc. preferred stock was first offered the
Stock market was effervescent. There was a constant parade of IPOs and stock holdings were increasing in value everyday. Corbin Motors heard from every quadrant of the business community that the Sparrow would be a perfect IPO. Corbin's business culture changed from one based on product championship, building products for value and growing the business on earnings from the sale of quality products, to one that positions itself for imminent public offering. Corbin retained a securities attorney to help construct a private offering of preferred stock to accredited investors.
 There was an energetic supply of investors anxious to be part of the Sparrow dream, buy stock and participate in an IPO. The perception was that it would be like the Dot.Coms, producing an early high rate of return on the investment. Enthusiastic investment bankers were visiting on a regular basis exploring the possibility of taking Sparrow to an IPO. These were heady times. There was enormous optimism in the stock market and for IPO opportunities. Then, from the Fall of 2000 and up to the Summer of 2001, company IPOs began to fall off to the point of nonexistence and Dot.Coms began to fail at a shocking rate. Investment bankers stopped showing interest in new innovative ideas and individual investors saw their holdings dissipate. Individuals who wanted preferred stock were few and far between. It looked like the Sparrow's path to Wall Street with an IPO would be a very long shot.
The Sparrow was still in its proof-of-concept phase and industry tooling was not in place to build Sparrows at a profit. The Company still needed time and money to accomplish profitable Sparrow II manufacturing. The Corbin family, the most ardent Sparrow supporter, saw the time it would take to get the Sparrow II tooled and into production was much greater than the time it would take to get Corbin Motors profitable. Something needed to be done.
 Mike Corbin picked up a concept drawing of a Merlin Roadster from the design lab and saw the solution. The Roadster uses existing parts readily available from the motorcycle and automotive industry, not ones that need to be developed. The parts are very cost effective and readily available in commercial quantities. Corbin has been part of motorcycle industry everyday for 34 years. With its motorcycle design and appeal the Roadster could easily be sold to that market.
Although automotive sales were dramatically down, motorcycle unit sales were up 15% for the year 2001. The Roadster would be fast-to-market, could be sold for a higher price than the Sparrow and would be sold into the motorcycle industry which continued to grow despite the recession.
2001 was the most challenging year that Mike Corbin had seen in over three decades of business. From a management view, the Corbins had two companies with two different architectures that required a great deal of thought to get pointed in the right direction. Corbin Motors presented the most strenuous challenge. Drastic measures were necessary for Corbin Motors' survival. The concerns were great: wanting the founding investors to have a financial return in the future, preserving the dream of the Sparrow as the finest form of urban travel in our changing times, and preserving as many careers as possible.
Unfortunately, Corbin Motors required serious cutbacks in jobs. This was anguishing for management as some of the people laid off had worked hard to contribute to Sparrow's success.
 In May 2001 Mike got the idea of producing the Merlin Roadster as a profitable product to save Corbin Motors. With his years of product design, development and fabrication, he knew the vehicle could be produced within a year, and he knew he had the right team in-house to create a running Roadster pre-production model and take it to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in August 2001.
The Merlin Roadster made its debut at the "gathering of the clan in the high country" with 300,000 in attendance. Motorcycle riders and automobile enthusiasts absolutely loved the Merlin Roadster and were clamoring to place their deposits to get on the early reservation list. They loved the concept, they loved the beautiful design, and they loved the exquisite craftsmanship by the Corbin team.
The switch was on. The final decision was made. The Merlin Roadster would be built and would be available to the public by Spring 2002.
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CORBIN 2001 PRESS RELEASE:
(taken from the orginal document in its entirety)
Save the World in Sparrow Style
The most important fact about Spaceship Earth: An instruction booklet didn't come with it.
- R. Buckminster Fuller (1895 - 1983)
May 17, 2001
 Humankind forever changes the face of the planet we call home. Many of the changes lately are for the worst... they are irreversible. From an ecological standpoint we have created holes in the Earth's atmosphere, poluted the air we breath and the water we drink, destroyed natural habitats, driven species to extinction and are currently in the process of depleting our natural resources. If our planet had come with an owners manual, would we have had the humility to read it?
Headlines read of US President Bush speaking of "the most serious energy shortage" since the 1970's. The state of California is experiencing rolling blackouts and the cost of energy has skyrocketed. By summer, gas prices are expected to exceed $3 per gallon while the finite supply of fossil fuels depletes at a rate 3 times faster than new sources are discovered. Meanwhile the cost of obtaining fuel increases since we have already used up the easily obtainable sources. This leaves only the multi-BILLION dollar oil rigs as our sole hope of keeping the fires burning.
Complacent and confident we pilot our seven-passenger SUVs down the over-crowded highways complaining about the cost of "a fill-up". Sure that it is just a passing phase, a large portion of the population cruises along totally unconcerned and oblivious to the hazards ahead. Yet in their wake they leave a world running low on petroleum. Professor Albert Bartlett of the University of Colorado defines modern agriculture as "the use of land to convert petroleum into food." Without petroleum to run tractors, plows and transportation systems, we will not be able to feed the global population. Today's average farm would require roughly 118 field hands to do the work of modern petro-fueled equipment... our population is shored up at the expense of petroleum, and when it falters, the population will too.
"[without petroleum] we now feel the planet and humanity can only coexist as a living system for a long time if the human population gets down to 1/70 to 4/70 of the present level." Perhaps an energy crisis is just what this world needed and we should accept it gratefully as a much needed wake-up call.
Save the World in Sparrow Style
If the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that of an expert saying it can't be done.
- Peter Ustinov
Can we really expect the world is going to change overnight? Certainly not.
It is said that American's have a love affair with the automobile. In reality, it's not so much the auto that we love, but the freedom, convenience and mobility that it provides. Cars support our lifestyle and allow us the freedom to live wherever we wish regardless of the proximity to our workplace. Furthermore, the auto is often felt an extension of our personality and a measure of our success. In short, American's won't willingly part with their autos.
Europeans have already begun to change-over to smaller, more efficient vehicles. Emerging technologies and new vehicles are providing options where the expense of larger vehicles and costly fuel has become prohibitive. This change in consumer attitude came about as a result of the mid-1970s oil-price shock. Tax policies kept energy prices in Europe high whereas the United States returned to pre-crisis pricing and habits. As a result, in 1999, energy consumption in the US was greater than that of any other nation and exceeded energy use in ALL of Western Europe. With the current crisis at hand in the US, changes can't be far behind.
I must commit myself to reforming the environment and not man; being absolutely confident that if you give man the right environment he will behave favorably.
- R. Buckminster Fuller
Obviously the best solution would be one that provides the best of both worlds. We want to keep our cars, but we don't want to pay exorbant amounts of money to keep them running and we certainly don't want to destroy our future. Mobility, for many, is not just a convenience, its a requirement. Mass transit systems that were once rated the best in the world have been grossly neglected as the automobile took over. An impass... Where do we go from here?
One of humankind's greatest attributes has been our uncanny ability to adapt. From this adaptation will come the changes that will shape the future of the planet and the human animal. The changes may not be abrupt or even dramatic, but they will come. Changes will arrive in the form of new inventions and in our own transition of how we conduct our daily activities. One such transition will be our chosen mode of transportation. Smaller, more efficient vehicles will become more prolific as the need for convenience and cost of ownership will dictate. One such vehicle will be the Corbin Motors Sparrow.
Save the World in Sparrow Style
I may be going to hell in a bucket babe but at least I'm enjoying the ride; at least I'll enjoy the ride ...
- Jerry Garcia & The Grateful Dead
The Sparrow is a single seat, three wheeled electric vehicle (EV) designed as a supplimental commuter car for inner-city drivers. It offers all of the convenience of your full size automobile, without the innefficient use of fossil fuel and the by-products associated with burning it. Adding to the benefits of Sparrow ownership is the vehicle's unique ability to register (and be recognized) as a motorcycle; which makes it eligible to use the High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) traffic lanes and even exempts it from tolls in some states. Since the Sparrow is electric, it is a zero emmission vehicle which makes a lot of sense to those of us that prefer not to see the air we breathe.
The Sparrow's compact size (an approximate 4' x 8' footprint) also makes it an excellent choice for crowded cities where parking is not always abundant. In fact, a Sparrow can usually park in a motorcycle parking space, giving it a parking ratio of four to one over an average car. The single passenger capacity makes the Sparrow a viable option as a Station Car1, a concept that extends the abilities and reach of public mass transit systems. As the cost of energy rises the need to have transportation options, like a versatile mass transit system, becomes more important. So too will the efficiency of a vehicle's design.
If one were to compare the amount of energy it takes to operate a Sparrow versus that used by an average ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicle, they would find the Sparrow outperforming a common car by a ratio of eight to one. Naturally, its not easy to compute the efficiency of an ICE car in Kilowatt Hours, so a reasonable comparison would be to say that you can power a Sparrow down the carpool lane for approximately one-cent per mile. Installing a simple timer in your garage enables you to charge your vehicle in the off-peak hours, taking full advantage of your power company's lowest rates. It's not hard to see that as the price of gas passes $2 per gallon, the Sparrow is a sound financial decision as well as an environmental one.
Being a Tree Hugger (environmentalist) isn't always easy, but in Sparrow's case its downright fun. Less time spent in traffic, zero emmissions, more parking availability, low maintenance and ownership cost, performance and it's fun to drive. All this and it helps you save money! This is the kind of change that's easy to accept.
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