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October 20, 2008
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Marilyn and Royce Templeton, the owners of West Kentucky Golf Cars, say that the consumer market has grown substantially over the past few years. |
Visit Kentucky Lake in western Kentucky and you’re just as likely to see an E-Z-GO golf car traveling along its quiet streets as you are traversing the fairways of the area’s many public and private golf courses.
All over the United States, E-Z-GO golf cars are becoming a popular alternative on streets, trails and job sites. In fact, the consumer market is a “big deal and a growing entity” for E-Z-GO, says Chuck Greif, E-Z-GO’s director of global specialty and pre-owned sales. The consumer segment, including parts and accessories now makes up 27 to 30 percent of the business.
There are a host of factors that account for such growth among E-Z-GO’s personal vehicles, including economics, demographics and changes to state and local traffic laws. The introduction of E-Z-GO’s Freedom RXV last year with new technologies accelerated the popularity of E-Z-GO’s personal cars.
The trend began about four or five years ago as planned retirement communities – typically built around golf courses – were developed around the country in response to aging Baby Boomers. These contained communities are the perfect size to go from home to the golf course to a local restaurant – all on a charge of an electric battery.
The cars, which typically retail from $5,500 to $6,500, travel up to 19.5 miles per hour and can run from 31 to 50 miles on a single charge. Plug your car battery into an electric charger overnight and it’s good to go the next day.
Relying on electricity rather than paying the high price of gasoline is another reason why a wider range of customers are visiting E-Z-GO dealers. “The price of gasoline is definitely making folks look at individual vehicles in a little different light than in the past as a means of transportation,” says Greif.
Because of this interest in the cars, more states and local cities and towns are amending traffic laws to allow for limited use of the golf cars on roadways.
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Some customers take customization to a whole new level, like turning this E-Z-GO vehicle into something resembling a ’57 Chevy. |
Not surprisingly, the Sun Belt remains the strongest market for E-Z-GO’s personal cars, but areas along the Great Lakes, the Ohio Valley and the Carolinas are also hot markets.
In Kentucky, personal golf cars are allowed on roads zoned for speeds of 35 miles per hour or less that are within five miles of a golf course. Marilyn Templeton, who co-owns West Kentucky Golf Cars, the largest private E-Z-GO golf car dealer in Kentucky, with her husband, Royce, says sales of individual golf cars are going like gangbusters at their two locations.
“We’re starting to see customers go from the one-car golf car family to the two-car golf car family,” she says. Families that once had a golf car for the golf course are now buying a Freedom RXV to transport family members and equipment to the dock for a day out on Lake Kentucky, one of the country’s largest manmade lakes.
E-Z-GO cars are available in a variety of styles, from passenger vehicles to cars with cargo beds to hold tools and equipment. A popular option for Templeton’s customers is to accessorize the car for recreational use on trails – adding larger tires, chrome brush guards, chrome wheels and converting the rear seats into a cargo bed.
The customers are as varied as the models of E-Z-GO cars that Templeton sells.
Older customers who may no longer feel comfortable driving an automobile have a new-found “freedom” in a personal golf car, she says. “They just want to be able to get out,” she says. “It improves their outlook on life and it totally changes them.”
They are also picking up customers from local businesses. Faced with the option of buying a large pickup truck and paying the associated costs of fuel and insurance, some are opting for an E-Z-GO car with a cargo bed. “The maintenance men put on a toolbox and the foremen use it for transportation around the job site,” Templeton says. “Time is money and the quicker they can get to and around the job site and back, the better you are.”
She agrees with Greif that E-Z-GO’s introduction of the RXV helped to bring about a greater surge in sales for both golfers and non-golfers.
“We had been waiting so long for a new body style and a whole new car,” Templeton says. “What the RXV has done for us this year has brought the golfers back in and allowed us to sell a lot of new units.”
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