Upstart California automaker Tesla Motors Inc. said it began regular production of its 2008 Tesla Roadster all-electric sports car today.
The company has more than 900 reservations and plans to build and deliver about 600 of the cars to customers this year, Tesla spokesman Darryl Siry told Automotive News. About 400 of the zero-emission cars are to be made next year, he said.
The Roadster is priced at $98,950.
Final assembly of the car is done at Tesla’s plant in San Carlos, Calif. There, the electric powertrain, powered by 6,800 tiny lithium ion batteries, is installed on a [Lotus Elise](javascript:var n=1) platform.
Early production levels at the plant will begin at between one and five cars a week for the first few weeks. Eventually, full production capacity will be more than 100 units a month, Siry said.
An all-electric, five-person sports sedan is scheduled to be introduced by Tesla in 2010. Siry said the company expects to build about 10,000 of those sedans a year.
Cars are barely what makes up that company. They are involved in quite a bit.
And how is bad to start out with something that will get a ton of attention, and show that electric cars don’t have to be slow, then start producing affordable commuter cars once people know the company a bit.
Do you have any idea how many cars you have to sell for a car to actually be successful?
Tesla won’t go belly up, but if they can’t build a car they can market to the mainstream car buyer for main stream car prices they won’t be in the car business long. AKA, a 4 door, 5 passenger sedan for <30k. Without that their cars will be nothing but toys for eccentric rich people.
I realize it requires a lot of cars to be sold to stay a float, but I was a little surprised that they had 900 reservations already. Also, Tesla has plans for a sedan to be in production by 2010. It will take a little while and more demand to bring the prices down, but that is how everything is. I am sure there are and will be incentives and rebates that will be out there to encourage and aid people in buying them. Plus, I really hope there are successful.
This was the first thing I thought of when I read his post too. Success doesn’t have to be a multi-billion dollar corporation. Especially when the niche that Tesla is trying to fulfill.
Both of those companies have vast racing heritage that allows them to sell their cars for such a high price. Ferrari is a racing company that happens to sell cars to the public. As for Lamborghini they were doing so well they went bankrupt, got sold to Chrysler, then dumped on an investment company, then got bought up by VW. Without VW’s backing and shared components their niche products would be no more.
But anyway, you proved my point. Tesla will never be anything but a niche product for ecentric rich people.
Does anyone else think the 3.5 hour charge time might cause some issues.
If you are using it to drive to work every day you can easily recharge it at night, but if you plan on driving somewhere more than 125 miles (250 mile range) or parking it in a hotel parking lot for the night that could cause some issues.
Not a problem if it’s your toy, which was my point.
The future for electric cars is promising, with two big if’s.
The car will need a tiny hybrid gas/diesel powerplant to charge the battery should it’s range be exceeded.
We need a good cheap way to produce electricity. Without that you’re just shifting the CO emissions and fossil fuel usage from the single car to the big power plant. Wind is fun for the greenies to have parties about, but farms big enough to really put a dent in our national consumption would use a whole lot of land and create enough noise that they’d need a decent buffer zone around them. Solar has some real potential, especially with the recent breakthroughs using nana-technology, but currently the initial install is way too expensive for a reasonable ROI. More than likely our best option in the near future will be nuclear but with that you have get people past the fears.
Of course I did since you are mad its not in your 30K price range.
Ferrari heritage is not what sells cars. Its THE CARS. Performance, look, and experience.
Anyway, every new technology needs a starting point. This is an awesome way to introduce full electric to the mainstream public, evaluate the performance, reliability and customer response.
If it was 30k I still wouldn’t want one because it’s a joke of a car. And Ferrari’s racing heritage is what allows to build such amazing cars. At least Tesla didn’t even try to design their own, they just grabbed an Elise and stuck their powertrain in it.
Agreed, but I still think a much better starting point would have been a car main stream consumers can relate to. All this does is enforce the stereotype that you need big concessions to have an electric car.
How the fuck it is a joke of a car, it will run circles around your goat on a track. The thing is more balanced than an Elise, has more torque. Its a short run thing, with Lotus’ backing, they have factory support and plan on making it a limited edition, ala Moser, Noble, Vector, Shelby. It will sell, they will make money.
It’s a joke as a car. AKA, as something you can use for daily transportation.
It’s amazing as a toy. AKA, something you can go play around town on the weekend or at a race track (assuming the track has an outlet you can charge up at).