MIAMI - To many Americans, the best-known exports from Romania are gymnasts like Nadia Comaneci. That's only one of the factors working against John A. Perez's plan to popularize an off-road vehicle made in the Eastern European country. His company, Cross Lander USA Inc., is trying to break into the U.S. market at an inopportune time: Sales of gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles have dropped as fuel prices rise. The Cross Lander 244X also doesn't meet U.S. safety regulations. Perez and others have failed in prior attempts to import the vehicle since the 1980s. The Romanian factory that makes it has virtually sputtered to a halt. And he will have to battle bad memories of another eastern European car - the much-maligned Yugo. "This business is full of challenges," said Perez, Cross Lander founder and CEO. "I came from Cuba at 12 years old, and from that moment on I've had an uphill battle. … This is just another battle." The Romanian automaker, Aro S.A., has made off-road vehicles since 1957. The Romanian army used them, as did dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who had special sunroofs built in his vehicle so he could wave to crowds, before the public revolted and he and his wife were executed in 1989. The boxy vehicles resemble a 1980s-era Land Rover with a bare-bones interior. They would be marketed as a poor man's Hummer, costing about $20,000, compared with the $136,000 price tag for General Motors Corp.'s Hummer H1. The 244X is meant for off-road use by hunters, farmers and others - not for soccer moms, Perez said. Seeks safety-rule exemption

 

But before the first 244X hits the mud here, federal regulators need to approve it for sale. Cross Lander has asked for an exemption until December 2007 from safety rules that require air bags for the driver and front passenger in vehicles that weigh less than 5,500 pounds. In a Feb. 9 filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the company said it would be in the public interest to make a cheaper off-road vehicle available to consumers. It also argued that without immediate U.S. sales, it would go out of business. Miami-based Cross Lander said it lost about $1.6 million last year, and designing and installing air bags would cost $2 million to $3 million - money the company can't obtain until it starts selling in the United States. The federal agency can grant an exemption for "substantial economic hardship" to an automaker that makes fewer than 10,000 vehicles a year and shows it tried to comply. The agency typically takes about 120 days to rule on a request, NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson said. Of the about 175 exemption requests since the 1970s, about 150 have been approved, he said. Perez said if the exemption is denied, Cross Lander could make the vehicle heavier than the 5,500-pound limit. Watchdog group Public Citizen called that a disturbing threat. It has lobbied against the exemption, saying the request was an outrageous disregard for the safety of motorists that would put thousands of lives at risk. "I don't see why hunters or anyone else would use this. Those are dangerous driving conditions (off road). You can easily hit a tree or roll the vehicle. You want air bags to be available," said Laura MacCleery, Public Citizen's counsel for auto safety. Perez said the company has done crash tests that show the vehicles are sturdier than U.S.-built ones, although NHTSA spokesman Eric Bolton said U.S. regulators haven't tested them yet. First U.S. attempt in 1990s

 

Perez first tried to bring the vehicles to the United States in the early 1990s, as an investor of East European Imports. Those attempts failed because of production problems and disputes with the Romanian government and workers. Previous efforts by other investors failed because of similar reasons. The former car dealer decided to go on his own and formed Cross Lander, which bought Aro last year. Aro has struggled over the past decade and made only 330 vehicles last year, mostly for sale in Romania. Factory workers in the mountain city of Campulung north of Bucharest have staged protests in recent months to demand government support for their company. A few years ago, Aro workers proposed to exchange their sperm for money to pay off millions of dollars of company debt. Perez said the new Romanian government is backing him, as is the U.S. Commerce Department, helping him negotiate red tape to speed the sales. Another complication was the losses suffered by U.S. dealers who signed up to sell the vehicle the last time around, only to lose thousands of dollars when the deal fell through. Many of the 148 dealers lined up this time already sell cars from major automakers, so they can afford for sales to be slow at first. "I think as a stand-alone product, there would be no way to make it," said Jesse McMahan, general manager at Chapman Chevrolet Isuzu in Tempe. Chapman and other Cross Lander dealers are holding their first national meeting Thursday in Key Largo, Fla. "I don't think they'll be on the lot long here," said T.W. Harris of Cross Lander of North Houston in Magnolia, Texas. "They're a hunter's dream. They're a great truck for them to go muddin' in."