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American automobile manufacturer

Vector Motors Corporation was an American automobile manufacturer originally based in Wilmington, California. Its history can be traced to Vehicle Design Force, which was founded in 1978 by Gerald Wiegert. Vehicle production by Vector Aeromotive began in 1989 and ceased in 1993. The company was later revived as Vector Motors Corporation, and has continued to develop sports cars. When founded, Vector represented America's first attempt to compete with European performance car manufacturers such as Ferrari and Lamborghini. Altogether around 50 Vector sports car models were developed and produced during the 1980s and 1990s including some racing versions mostly built using American made components. Nearly every car produced by the company is designated the letter "W" (for Wiegert) and a number. A letter "X" after the W (e. g. WX 8) signifies a prototype unit. In August 2018 it was reported that the company was still actively developing an entirely new vehicle, the WX 8, a vehicle positioned in the colloquially named "hypercar" category, which it first announced and presented a prototype model of back in 2007. Founder, principal owner, chief executive, lead designer and engineer Jerry Wiegert died in January 2021 aged 76, leaving the fate of the company and corporate entity in question. The Wilmington facility along with the warehouse that stored materials and inventory has since been cleared out. As of Fall 2021 the company's official internet website is also no longer in operation with its domain registration left expired.

In 1971, Gerald Wiegert, who had just graduated from college, founded a design house called Vehicle Design Force and teamed up with Lee Brown, a well known auto body expert in Hollywood, to create a new car called The Vector. The Vector was planned to feature various powerplant options, including a DOHC Porsche engine,(at the time, a new Lamborghini Miura cost $21,000). The Vector was featured on the cover of Motor Trend magazine in April 1972,

In 1989, Wiegert's company, now known as the Vector Aeromotive Corporation, began production of the W8, an evolution of the W2. Financial backing came from public stock offerings and various lawsuits including suits against the Goodyear Tire Company (trademark infringement with the Vector brand of tires) and Vantage cigarettes. The Vector W8 utilized an automatic Oldsmobile TM425 Transaxle mated to a Twin Turbo CAN AM modified Chevrolet small block V8 engine. One black W8 was pre ordered by famous tennis player Andre Agassi. Since Vectors were hand built, each required significant time to finish, calibrate and test, but Agassi demanded that the company deliver his W8 before it was ready. Vector complied, and company representatives told him that he could display it, but warned him not to drive it until the final work was completed. Agassi ignored this advice, and when the vehicle broke down, Wiegert and Vector Aeromotive refunded his US$455,000 purchase price; this resulted in negative publicity despite the circumstances. Afterwards, Agassi's W8 was finished and the car was resold. A total of 17 Vector W8 cars were built for public sale. While the Coupe had the twin turbo engine (tuned to about 800 hp) the roadster had the same Chevrolet engine as the W8.

MegaTech moved Vector from its Wiegert owned headquarters building in Wilmington, California, to Jacksonville, Florida, where the company could share office space with fellow MegaTech owned automaker Automobili Lamborghini. The new Vector Aeromotive Corporation created a car called the Vector M12, which was loosely based on the WX 3 but powered by a version of the Lamborghini Diablo V12 engine. Consequently, some work on the M12 was handled by Lamborghini. As such, many of the essentially American "spirit" characteristics of previous editions did not carry over to the M12.