“Once you put the flames on,
any wrong move, you’re going
to have a giant scratch,” Lokotar
said.
They were delivered Friday,
hours before the first pitch.
The home and visitor bullpens
have different colored cars to
ferry relievers to the mound
mid-inning — but if the pitchers
opt not to use them,
they’ll take their warm-
up jacket to the dugout.
The team announced it
was adding bullpen cars
in March, but the actual
vehicles were a secret
until Friday.
marketing for the niche sector.
“It’s good for all of us,” he said.
grooming was completed. I
can’t wait!”
Initial costs of a four-passen-
ger driverless golf cart will be
$41,201.80.
“It’s good for all of us,” he said.
He declined to discuss
the cost of the two
bullpen carts, citing a
confidentiality agree-
ment with the Ilitches
but noted that base
golf carts sales begin at
$2,000 and custom jobs
have sold for as much
as $22,000.
The custom sports cart busi-
ness is small, and Sofia said he
welcomes anyone getting work
rather than seeing it as com-
petition. More bullpen cars are
“It’s a lot of fun,” Lokotar said.
“We’ve done a lot of stuff.”
The core of the company’s sales,
rental and custom fleet are gas
and electric EZGO, Club Car and
Yamaha carts.
Michigan Golf Cart
Sales is a small part of
the global golf cart and
“neighborhood electric
vehicle” market that’s
predicted to grow to
$3.8 billion worldwide
by 2025, according to
a forecast by Albany,
N.Y.-based Transpar-
ency Market Research.
Another research firm,
Valley Cottage, N.Y.-
based Future Market
Insights, estimated
that the U.S. accounts
for about 42 percent
of the golf cart mar-
ket globally, and sales
reached $1.1 billion by
the end of 2016.
“We had a blast doing
them,” Lokotar said.
Mark Sofia, founder
of Tampa-based SportsKartz
that created the Arizona Dia-
mondbacks’ bullpen cars for
this season, told Crain’s that his
carts sell for about $20,000, and
estimated what the Tigers are
using could have cost $17,000
to $19,000 each. The Diamond-
backs were the first major
league team to use bullpen cars
since the Milwaukee Brewers
dropped their motorcycle/side-
car gimmick in 1995.
ers. Sales, service, repairs, and
rentals are the primary busi-
ness lines in addition to custom
work.
Body color is the core person-
alization at Michigan Golf Cart
Sales, Lokotar said, but the com-
pany does custom work such
as TVs, LED and sound systems
and other tech, lights, lift kits,
utility boxes, headlights and flip
seats in addition to paint jobs,
graphics, and body fabrication.
It lists its customer base, be-
yond the sports teams, as
outdoor sports enthusiasts,
hunters, retirees, apartment
and condominium complexes,
manufacturing plants, land-
scape companies, marinas, city
parks, schools and cottage own-
Lokotar, who handles the back
shop while his dad oversees
sales, declined to discuss reve-
nue, but their annual number
of units sold suggests around
$1 million or more annually. He
said he hopes the bullpen car
trend continues and it becomes
a steady business to augment
traditional and custom sales.
“It’s nice to have something
different,” he said. “When you’re
doing 300 to 500 golf carts, they
start to blend together. It would
be awesome if it became some-
thing.”
JUNE 2018
21