Automaker Plans Move

Business owner Jonathan Ward can’t produce Icon sport utility vehicles fast enough at his garage in Van Nuys, so he’s gunning for new space in Chatsworth. The company’s hand-built vehicles feature the vintage body style of SUV brands such as Land Cruiser and Bronco, combined with a modern power train and chassis along with state-of-the-art features such as Bluetooth technology. Icon vehicles cost an average of $100,000 and take nearly a year to complete, but company officials say orders are on backlog. To keep up with demand, the company this month will begin moving out of its cramped quarters and into a 36,000-square-foot building on Lurline Street, Ward said. Another company he owns, TLC, which restores and modifies sport utility vehicles, also will park operations in the new facility. The company move is expected to be completed by May 1. Icon will remain a low-volume business, but having a larger facility will help the company take a bite out of a $5 million backlog, Ward said. In addition, it will enable the company to showcase vehicles to customers who don’t want to wait the 10 months for a custom-built assembly, he said. “More space not only increases volume, but the ability to build on spec and have those (vehicles) ready for the instant gratification business,” he said. Automotive manufacturing once thrived in the San Fernando Valley, as the region formerly was home to a General Motors plant in Van Nuys that for almost 50 years produced full-size vehicles and sportier models such as the Corvair, Camaro and Firebird. While large-scale automotive manufacturing has long gone, specialty auto makers such as Icon and other auto companies that serve consumer demands for restoration and modernization services, have managed to grow their business here. “What he (Ward) does is not what people think of in the way of automotive, but they really do have something special,” said George Stavaris, a broker and co-founder of Triniti Partners Inc. in Sherman Oaks, who represented Ward in the lease on the new building. With the assistance of the Ford Motor Co., Ward offers Broncos recreated with the look from 1966 to 1977. The Willy’s Jeeps are the classic World War II version, while the Land Cruisers feature a retro style much like those that were first imported to the U.S. Hank Corwin, a film editor who lives in Malibu, purchased a used Icon FJ40 Land Cruiser that has become his every-day vehicle. For him, the vehicle symbolizes permanence in a transient culture. “It is somewhat anachronistic,” Corwin said of the FJ40. “It is already expired and has found a new life that Jonathan and his group put together.” With his TLC business, Ward provides the same type of restoration and service work for sport utilities that he has provided for classic cars for years. His goal for Icon was vastly different. Started in 2006, Ward set out to remake a niche by vowing not to skimp on price and by relying on reverse engineering and computer-aided design to assemble the vehicles. Since the company’s start he’s sold about 100 vehicles, mostly to buyers outside of the Los Angeles area. The CJ Jeep series ranges from $77,000 to $110,000 and the four models in the Land Cruiser series ranges from $125,000 to $195,000. Ward says he’s immersed in what he describes as “a passion driven business.” Little thought is given to forecasting customer demand, he said. He said it became obvious that the Oxnard Street shop was not sufficient after Icon announced its Bronco series with Ford and a year’s worth of production sold out in 60 days. But other factors also drove the decision to move. Ward said General Motors contacted the company about doing a project, but he had to push off the venture until 2013. And the logistics of having four employees packing and unpacking parts and supplies can cost $400 day, a figure ballooning to $8,000 a month in lost productivity. “That alone justifies the cost of the move,” Ward said. The Chatsworth facility also offers a clean industrial environment, high ceilings and a cost per-square-foot that is less than the current location, he said.