Rugged Rentals, the Bermudian minicar rental company, is the official vehicle partner for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

The PGA Tour FedEx Cup event will be held at Port Royal Golf Course from October 27-30.

The official minicars for the tournament are part of Rugged Rentals’ new fleet, Gem.

Event staff and volunteers are driving four of the new, stylish Gem cars for the next two months, throughout the tournament.

The partnership will also see a Gem parked on the course for the duration of the event.

It comes as part of Rugged Rentals’ expansion plan, which will see the organisation add to the current complement of ten Gems with an additional 24 vehicles in November — with more on the way in 2023.

Tallent Clark, Rugged Rentals’ co-owner, said: “We are thrilled to be named the official vehicle for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship this year. It’s a great opportunity for the public to see our new fleet and garner interest in the minicars.

“At Rugged Rentals, we are committed to creating an exciting rental experience while providing customers with a high level of satisfaction and excellent service.

“Our new fleet complements the mini Hummers that were launched in 2019 and we look forward to serving existing and future customers.”

The new Gem is a compact, yet spacious option for minicar rentals in Bermuda.

Its battery range of 93 miles, or 150 kilometres, allows drivers to travel the island almost four times and it can be charged at home with a regular outlet in the event of no access to Rugged Rentals’ charging stations.

The vehicles feature air conditioning, Bluetooth radio, automatic windows and reverse camera.

Danielle Baiunco, tournament director, said: “We at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship are excited to partner with Rugged Rentals. The addition of this new rental option allows for ease of movement throughout the island in a fun and stylish way.

“We look forward to growing together in the years to come and cannot wait to show off the Gem in October.”

Rugged, which launched in August 2019 with eight US-built Hummer HXT vehicles, is phasing out the Hummer at the end of this month in favour of the Gem.

A fortuitous meeting last October with the CEO of the distributor of the Gem, who was living on the island as a digital nomad, led to the brand changeover.

Mr Clark said: “We went to lunch, and when I heard the Gem was from China, I said ‘no’. But he told me to do some research and get back to him.”

Mr Clark discovered that Gem’s parent company is Geely Auto Group, the manufacturer of the Volvo and Lotus brands of automobiles.

Last December, Mr Clark took a Gem for a spin in an undisclosed location.

He said: “It was in Latin America, that’s all I can say.

“When we started to go up a mountain, and I was accelerating uphill, I thought, ‘This is not your typical car’.

“Then I turned on the air conditioning and I thought, ‘This is like a real car’.”

The first fleet of vehicles arrived on the island in time to be featured in the Bermuda Day parade.

Mr Clark said: “The feedback from all our customers is, ‘Wow, these are like regular cars’. They are impressing our customers.

“They have taken off. We just had two customers who took two vehicles for a month.”

Mr Clark said Rugged currently has two staff, but has plans to hire in November when the fleet more than triples.

He said the company has exciting plans for 2023, including the possibility of an expanded presence during the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

Mr Clark added: “Next year, we will have more cars, and they will be promoted to caddies and players too.”

The left-hand-drive Gem is available for multiday rentals for $175 a day. Drivers will receive savings of 5 to 20 per cent off the regular price for seven-day and longer rentals.

Vehicles can be booked online at www.ruggedrentalsbda.com.