It’s one of those car accident stories

The bankruptcy of the Kingston Car Company traces back to a single comment card. The company’s entire history ran on the hubris of the company’s founder, Allen Kingston. Most startup car companies hope to be noticed by the industry giants, but not Allen. He saw himself as a man of the people and believed he could spend his budget on market research and become the people’s car.

In fact, the foundation of the Kingston Car Company was market researchers rather than engineers or designers. These market researchers hounded automobile show-goers in hopes of finding the spark for their company. 

Auto shows often feature cars of the future. Ford, Tesla and Honda show off products they plan to release in a decade. Smaller companies tried crazy things to get noticed like adding nonfunctioning propellers or pretending their cars could turn into boats. They all wanted to create the next Batmobile. Kingston wanted the next Suburu.

Kingston’s floor model was a generic SUV. Allen Kingston claimed this was to “inspire the public to use the car as a canvas”. However, inspiration never showed up. After these shows, the team would gather in a conference room and go through the cards. It was the same thing every time.

This car looks like a Kia Sorento.
Why did you put your logo on a Kia Sorento?
Does the Kia Sorento come in orange?

Allen became more and more frustrated after each show. He’d never seen a Kia Sorento, but apparently, it was generic. No one understood Allen’s genius.

Until one glorious day, a comment card came through. It was from Steve Peddler at the Springport Auto Show:

“This Kia Sorento has two too many wheels.”

The market researchers around the table laughed for a moment but fell silent when Allen Kingston jumped up with enthusiasm. 

“A car with two wheels, that’s the idea!” Allen said excitedly. The others tried to object, pointing out that this was just a motorcycle or a bicycle, but Allen was inspired. “What Steve Peddler wants is what the people want!”

The team successfully tackled this problem, designing larger custom wheels that sat in the middle of the car. Kingston invested millions into a curved body that wouldn’t fall over and a complicated weight distribution system. After two years, the prototype for the Kingston Peddler was complete.

The next step was to track down Steve Peddler. The market research team searched the internet and even found an old phone book, but no Peddler was listed. Finally, the market research team came across a social media account for Steve Peddler. It turned out that Peddler was not his last name, just a social media handle.

Allen Kingston immediately reached out to Steve. Allen praised Steve’s feedback and told him about the prototype. They wanted to fly Steve to their factory in Des Moines just to see it. Steve was mildly enthusiastic but wanted to turn the excursion into a two-week road trip. 

With each day ticking closer to Steve’s arrival, Allen became more and more excited. Even when a researcher noted that Steve Peddler was posting about his cross-country bike trip on social media, Allen wasn’t worried. This Steve Peddler was a man of the people.

Finally, the big day arrived. Steve walked into the small manufacturing plant rolling his bike, dressed from head to toe in a Tour de France jersey and helmet. Allen led him over to the prototype car, the Peddler, and waited expectantly for a response.

“Wait a minute,” Steve said finally. “Does this thing still have an internal combustion engine? I’ll stick with my bike, thank you.”

Allen Kingston not so quietly laid off the market research team and then filed for bankruptcy. However, he kept the patent for the Kingston Peddler. Maybe bikes are in his future.