Tesla advert!!
Discussion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1C44JQU7Pc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEnovQMuhDQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEnovQMuhDQ
Edited by midas029 on Saturday 13th October 14:37
I'm surprised Lotus aren't making more of their association with Tesla. This is real ground breaking stuff, never mind the business benefits to Lotus who will be building up to a 1000 sportsters a year at Hethel. They've been doing a lot of the engineering and chassis set up as well, as you'd expect. Check out www.teslamotors.com and look at the coverage they are getting. There's virtually nothing on the Lotus site.
BTW, Tesla have their official EPA figures in. Combined cycle is 245 miles/charge and a 3 hour charging cycle, Oh, and 0-60 in under 4 seconds and a limited top speed of 125mph.
BTW, Tesla have their official EPA figures in. Combined cycle is 245 miles/charge and a 3 hour charging cycle, Oh, and 0-60 in under 4 seconds and a limited top speed of 125mph.
Check out www.teslamotors.com
Lotus have contributed chassis (its based on a tweaked Elise chassis), engineering and development and of course vehicle dymanics expertise. They are also building it at Hethel, potentially up to 1000 a year. Tesla have over 600 confirmed orders already. Its only available in the States at $98,000 and starts shipping in a couple of months.
BTW Nathan, Lotus are only doing the Sportster. Tesla are designing and will be building a 4 door sedan themselves, called Whitestar, aiming for 2010 delivery. Target price is $35,000 and the programme is well advanced. This will be their 'mass market' vehicle at 10,000 units/year I think. The Sportster will still head the range I believe.
Lotus have contributed chassis (its based on a tweaked Elise chassis), engineering and development and of course vehicle dymanics expertise. They are also building it at Hethel, potentially up to 1000 a year. Tesla have over 600 confirmed orders already. Its only available in the States at $98,000 and starts shipping in a couple of months.
BTW Nathan, Lotus are only doing the Sportster. Tesla are designing and will be building a 4 door sedan themselves, called Whitestar, aiming for 2010 delivery. Target price is $35,000 and the programme is well advanced. This will be their 'mass market' vehicle at 10,000 units/year I think. The Sportster will still head the range I believe.
Edited by Hedgerley on Sunday 14th October 11:25
Edited by Hedgerley on Sunday 14th October 11:33
I'm actually surprised Tesla aren't making more of the fact that it's closely related to the Lotus Elise (or at least uses Lotus DNA).... immediately that gives the credentials of fun and great handling.
I guess they might be trying to avoid comparison with the Elise (which it basically is under the skin, you can see it's an S2 Elise chassis under there, almost completely unchanged), as the Elise is much cheaper, but other than that, I reckon Tesla could get a good boost by making more of their links with Lotus, which is a respected name in the USA.
I guess they might be trying to avoid comparison with the Elise (which it basically is under the skin, you can see it's an S2 Elise chassis under there, almost completely unchanged), as the Elise is much cheaper, but other than that, I reckon Tesla could get a good boost by making more of their links with Lotus, which is a respected name in the USA.
Lotus expertise is in nearly every car to a greater or lesser extent. It is part of the heritage of chapman. The guy was the ultimat innovator and developer. You will rarely hear a manufacturer say this. Talking to Tony, he said that more cars than you would ever believe have used Lotus consultancy for thier development and refinement.
Gooby said:
Lotus expertise is in nearly every car to a greater or lesser extent. It is part of the heritage of chapman. The guy was the ultimat innovator and developer. You will rarely hear a manufacturer say this. Talking to Tony, he said that more cars than you would ever believe have used Lotus consultancy for thier development and refinement.
Yup, and sometimes manufacturers don't even realise they're using Lotus tech!E.g. McLaren boss Ron Dennis the other month saying their car doesn't use ANY intellectual property from ANY other team... LOL. OTOH, the wings, the engine layout, monocoque chassis were all Lotus inspired
NathanE said:
Gooby said:
Lotus expertise is in nearly every car to a greater or lesser extent. It is part of the heritage of chapman. The guy was the ultimat innovator and developer. You will rarely hear a manufacturer say this. Talking to Tony, he said that more cars than you would ever believe have used Lotus consultancy for thier development and refinement.
Yup, and sometimes manufacturers don't even realise they're using Lotus tech!E.g. McLaren boss Ron Dennis the other month saying their car doesn't use ANY intellectual property from ANY other team... LOL. OTOH, the wings, the engine layout, monocoque chassis were all Lotus inspired
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