Ever see something so fun and fabulous that you just need to know more?
That’s exactly what happened when I spotted a bright red Moke pulling up at a swanky beach club in Delray Beach, Florida. Part golf cart, part beach cruiser, and 100% head-turner.
Naturally, I did what any curious gal would do—I took a picture, went down a rabbit hole of info, and landed right at Moke America.
Turns out, the Moke isn’t new—it’s iconic! Originally a British military vehicle (yes, parachuted out of airplanes), it’s now an all-electric, open-air, customizable dream ride. Think Lily Pulitzer editions, James Bond-inspired designs (sold out, of course), and baby blue beauties perfect for cruising vacation spots like Miami, the Hamptons, and beyond.
I chatted with Todd Rome, CEO of Moke America, who’s been leading this electric lifestyle revolution for over 10 years. Made in Sarasota, Florida, the Moke is street-legal, eco-friendly, and lets you feel like you’re always on vacation.
Todd says, “What makes the Moke so great is it’s loved by everyone. It really speaks beach car. You feel like you’re on vacation no matter where you have it.”
Moke has become more than a ride—it’s a lifestyle.
Starting at $29K, Mokes let you mix and match everything from the roll bars to the roof.
Todd says, you can “change the car like you change your outfit”.
The future looks even brighter for Moke, with new designs and features set to debut in 2025.
Oh, and if you’re wondering—yes, there’s room for your coffee and phone. Cheers to stylish joyrides, Moke-style!
Enjoy this podcast of a cool conversation with Todd Rome CEO of Moke America live on The Debbie Nigro Show. If you’d rather read than listen the transcript of the audio is below.
AUDIO TRANSCRIPT:
0:00:00
And now, back to the Debbie Nigro Show.
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Just like the ones I used to know Well, maybe you’re dreaming of a Lily Pultizer Christmas or a James Bond Christmas, in which case we have a moke for you. Hey everybody, I’m Debbie Nigro. Oh my gosh, I didn’t even know about this thing called a Moke.
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And you’re going to learn about it with me right now.
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Because I saw a bloke in a moke as I was coming out of a fancy beach club in Delray Beach, Florida and the valet was pulling up and the guy gets in and I go, hey, what is that? He says it’s a moke, bright red, it looked like a golf cart only and it had four seats and he was all like cool and I’m like, I need one of those. I said, do you mind if I take your picture? He says no.
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0:01:07
So I get the moke picture and I go looking as I do down the rabbit hole of information to find out what moke is all about and I come up with Moke America like the whole world knows about Moch except me and I was excited like I need one it comes in all these colors 12 rainbow colors. It’s electric you can customize it like the Lily Pulitzer version and I’m like wow who has these things and who can I talk to about it so I wrote to Moch I was like, hello, I need to know, and now you’re going to meet my guest today, Todd
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Rome, the CEO of Moke America. Hey, Todd.
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Hey, how you doing?
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Todd, it’s so nice to have you. Todd, I know you started Blue Star Jets. You’re like a smart guy, really smart guy. How cool are you?
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You there?
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Yeah, I’m here.
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Oh, I’m giving you this big compliment.
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I was like, waiting for you to say, oh. Anyway, you’re a guy with vision, obviously. So being the CEO of a company like Mok means that you caught on that there was something happening here. How long has the Moke been trending that I, Debbie Nigro, was unaware? Please help me out.
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0:02:18
You know, Moke America started about 10 years ago with the intent of bringing the classic Moke that’s been around for over 50 years and making it a low-speed electric vehicle. The concept was that people are living more in gated communities and beach club communities all across America. We saw country clubs and golf clubs or the need for something that was more special.
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0:02:49
The mocha is classic, the style, the design of it and it’s obviously loved by Americans. Oh it’s so cool. Now this was the back story it was British right? It was something that the British… Yeah originally it was a British
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military vehicle. Right. They used to take them and send them out of airplanes with helicopter with parachutes. Cool. Obviously didn’t do very well on the battlegrounds being it’s low clearance. Right. Eventually became loved in Australia all over the Caribbean but had yet to find its way to America. Ten years ago, we went out on this journey. We build them here in the US.
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0:03:24
We assemble them in Sarasota, Florida. We ship them now
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all across America. Is it my imagination or are they starting to trend all of a sudden more now? I mean, I love it. I absolutely love it. It’s electric, it’s street legal, it’s open air.
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There’s been tremendous exposure this year. It’s been on several TV shows, movies. We had the James Bond edition that did very well for the past two years. We’re part of Formula One, the champ of Formula One each year has driven the Moke on international TV to go pick up his trophy. We’ve partnered with the likes of Louis Vuitton and just tremendous hotel groups all across America.
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The exposure is significantly more than it has been.
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Amazing. And it looks like everybody who sees it wants one. I noticed the James Bond versions are sold out.
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Yeah, you know, they’re loved by men and women, by kids and adults. And I think what makes the Mook so great is it’s loved by everyone. It’s really speaks beach car. Yes.
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It’s a lifestyle. You know, you feel like you’re on vacation no matter where you have it.
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0:04:30
It only goes about 25, 30 miles an hour, correct?
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Sure. So it’s a low-speed vehicle. Its top speed is 25 miles an hour, and it can be driven anywhere 35 miles an hour or
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less. I think, shouldn’t every golf course have one of these? Because who just wants to go with two people when you’re playing in a foursome, right?
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Yeah, but you know, on a golf course, you know, a golf cart itself is probably better on the course because it’s lighter in weight. You know, the Moka is about 1,700 pounds, so it’s best on the pads.
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Got it. I love the Made in America. That is very impressive, especially with an electric vehicle.
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We’ve been assembling in Sarasota for the past 10 years.
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Yeah, that’s very big. And electric, of course, everybody is interested in the electric vehicles these days, so you were early on that. I thought it was cool that people could choose what color they want and customize it. I was dying looking at the Lilly Pulitzer version. That’s incredible.
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0:05:21
So you’re making licensing deals, right?
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0:05:23
Yeah, we’ve done a lot of partnerships, but I think people like most is being able to design it with their own idea, picking the color of the roll bars, the grills, the bumper, changing the top. Those of you who are getting dressed in the morning, you could change your car, change your top, you have a couple of different tops, obviously you can mix and match colors and each car is hand built and custom made and I think that’s also what makes it so special.
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0:05:50
Yeah, very cool. How many dealerships are carrying the Moke?
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Over 40 dealerships across America.
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And they’re mostly, I assume, in warm weather climates?
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Yes.
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Yeah, because I got back to New York, I’m like, gosh, where would I park this thing and how would this work? You know, it just doesn’t it doesn’t feel like it belongs in New York yet, except in the summer.
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I know they do very well, though, in the suburbs. They do very well in the Hamptons, obviously. Obviously. They talk about this vineyard.
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Yes.
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Well, any type of vacation type of property.
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Are you having fun being the CEO of Mocha America? I imagine you are.
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I’m having an absolute blast. We’re meeting amazing people. We’re building relationships with our dealer network. We love our dealers. It’s our job to help them grow their business and learn from what the market is experiencing and grow each year.
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So, yeah, absolutely, we’re having a great time. We’re all childhood friends from the third grade.
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Oh, that’s the best part of the story.
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I’m going to be able to do that.
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I’m going to be able to do that. I’m going to be able to do that. keto recipe and it’s so much fun because I know them from down the block, right? So those are very special.
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They go the extra mile.
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It’s not like just working for a company. No name and no face.
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It makes it real personal.
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Yes. You want to do a shout out to your friends who work with you in the C-suite or no? No, just want to say thanks. It was a great year, 2024. It was a great year ahead. And you’ll see a lot of changes and things coming out in the future that are pretty exciting.
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0:07:44
Yeah. So can I just ask you about the charge on this? It’s electric, right? So how long do you have to charge it?
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Sure. It plugs into a 110 outlet. The batteries now are what they call lithium, a 72-volt lithium system that plugs into a regular household outlet, a 110 outlet. You don’t need anything special. And it can go from zero to hero a full charge in six hours. Oh, that’s cool
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0:08:06
Are there like moke? Electric stations around or no, they’re not needed because you can plug it into any outlet. Oh, that’s cool So McDonald’s and just plug her in and just plug her in. Do you drive one yourself? I do They’re mostly in Miami and the Hamptons.
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What is your choice of mocha color?
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I’m a baby blue lover. Oh, good one. Very good one.
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Yeah, good one.
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Baby blue with the white, you know, with the white accents. Now the top is like half outdoors, half indoors.
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Yeah, it’s called a Bimini top. It kind of looks like the first Flintstone car, but it folds up and you can put it right
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in the trunk.
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What happens if you’re driving and it starts to rain? How fast can you put that top back up?
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You can put it on in less than three minutes.
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Oh, because girls with hair need to know that. You know, the hair thing is a big problem.
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Typically, if it’s a rain storm, you may not want to opt for that car.
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0:09:03
Are you having more fun with Moat than Blue Star Jets?
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0:09:06
That was pretty fun, too.
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0:09:09
Are you still doing that?
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No.
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No, but I remember you when you started that. That was very cool. Yes, but yes, fun businesses.
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I always choose things that I want to do and enjoy doing and learning from.
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Can we just ask you how much a Moke costs?
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They start at about $29,000 and based on the options go up from there.
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What is the future of the Moke, Todd? Where is this going?
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There’s going to be a lot of design changes in the future and a lot of announcements that are going to come out in 2025. It will be the first time that we add some new concepts to the car that are yet to be done. I look forward to seeing that.
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0:09:50
Very cool. The press you’ve gotten and basically the product placement you’ve gotten in all these media deals you’ve made has been I guess a game changer would you say?
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It’s like working out, it’s just constant.
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Yeah, it’s constant.
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Waking up every day and just giving it your all.
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Do a lot of people come to you to have a Moke product placement in their movie or their video or their whatever, the influencers, are you getting a lot of attention for people
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who want…
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Almost every day. I figured that, I figured that. Is anybody trying to get a free Moke off you?
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0:10:22
You know, yes, that as well. But you know, we’re pretty selective in the relationships and the partnerships. There’s a style and a brand image that we like to maintain and we won’t sacrifice it for anything.
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0:10:36
I don’t want to tell people’s personal stories, but I know my cousin bought a Moke and my aunt told me that he made a car port for his Moke. I thought, oh, that’s a Moke port. Do you sell Moke ports?
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0:10:47
No, we don’t sell Moke ports, but that’s cute.
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You may want to look into that as a revenue idea, another side idea. And what about, I’m thinking me driving around, I’m a disaster in the car. I’ve got everything, the phone, I’ve got the coffee, I’ve got all the stuff. Is there enough room to put all that stuff in there?
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0:11:05
Sure, no problem. Yep, to your right hand, there’s a spot right there to put your cell phone, your coffee. And again, you’re not going very fast, you really have to worry.
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Has anybody ever got caught speeding in a Moke?
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I don’t know how it’s possible.
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0:11:20
All right, well, this has been joyful. You know, you were very gracious to accept this interview on such short notice. I wrote in yesterday, I’m like, listen, I just got back. This is the best trending thing I’ve seen, the Moke. And you were awesome to say, great, I’ll do it. I think this is actually a very good area of the world for you to be sharing your information
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I’m going to I hope I helped you back in some way. Great, I appreciate it. Thank you for giving us the opportunity. You’re welcome, Todd. Have a great day.
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0:12:12
Take care. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Great. That’s super cool. This thing started as a military invention for the British Army in the late 1950s, and
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now it’s like this big cultural happening icon with a lot of celebrity fans, you know. Back then, back then, you know who loved this thing? Boys. They all love this thing back then. Fast forward 2024 and 25, you got all the other, you know, celebrities, which I thought was kind of interesting who they collaborated with. Lily Pulitzer as a special edition Moke. There’s a woman who has a home goods brand named Jaliska that has a custom Moke that has evokes a charming picnic in the country. But of course, the James Bond sold out,
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you know, limited edition, the double oh seven San Monique edition that’s gone, you’re gonna have to wait for that. And this the live and let die edition. James Bond never goes out of style. But James Bond would not be escaping in one of these suckers. I can tell you right now, okay, because they would have got him.. The series would have been over. All right, more
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to come. One more story here on the Debbie Nigro Show. Stay tuned.
Transcribed with Cockatoo
