If Pigs Had Wings...

If Pigs Had Wings Marc E. Babej and Tim Pollak Forbes

8/23/06 Zero to 60 in 4 seconds - I wonder what Nikola would think...

(more info on Tesla Motors @

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Albert Einstein once defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." The only thing more insane: starting a new car company. The challenges

Reply to
Grover C. McCoury III
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(more info on Tesla Motors @

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Albert Einstein once defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." The only thing more insane: starting a new car company. The challenges

Reply to
Tom

It sounds great. I wonder if it will have a/c? I suppose it will since they are planning on selling them in Florida.

Well at 80K I don't expect to see one in my garage.

mort

again and expecting different results." The only thing more insane: starting a new car company. The challenges--financial, engineering, manufacturing, marketing, regulatory--are almost insurmountable. Remember Preston Tucker, or John DeLorean?

new car company, but effectively to start a new car category--a viable electric car. The name to remember this time is Martin Eberhard. But this time around, the legacy could be very different.

the company is being financed, the way the car performs, the way it is entering the market.

intersection of low performance, short driving range and ugliness, inside and out. To call them golf carts on steroids would be kind.

performed like one, with acceleration from zero to 60 in four seconds? What if the car had a driving range of 250 miles, easily enough to cover most people's daily driving needs. Sound like a pipe dream? Well, this pipe dream will be coming to a road near you within the year.

engineering buff. His favorite topic is how the Tesla Roadster is more efficient, from original fuel source to wheels, than a car based on any other technology--hybrids, hydrogen or ethanol--none of which promises more than 70% efficiency. Tesla's technology achieves 86% efficiency.

three weeks, but with only two seats and a price tag of $80,000 to $100,000, Tesla's Roadster is a car most can only dream of. That's where the marketing story gets interesting. Within the next two to three years, Eberhard plans to succeed where Tucker failed 60 years ago: to launch a sedan that would serve as a viable second car for America's mass-affluent.

technical considerations--a small, aerodynamic car uses a lot less energy--also drives a perfectly sensible marketing strategy.

it, "You're much better off coming into the market at the high end, with low volume and high unit margin, and then working your way down-market. Going up-market is much harder." To help prove his point, Harrigan cites the Volkswagen Phaeton. (He calls it a "spectacular disaster.")

Rather, the company's marketing strategy will rely on publicity (a high-performance electric car is definitely news), events and fairs (test drives are critical for a performance-based strategy), and viral marketing (environmentalists, and hopefully car buffs, will love it).

more attention than any other type of car; they attract car influencers; and an electrical sports car is, by definition, attention-grabbing.

venture represents a radical departure from automotive conventions at almost every turn. That was a critical part of Tesla Motors' strategy. As Eberhard puts it: "To be successful, we needed to change the way people think about electric cars. Incrementalism was not an option."

to roil the markets, and environmentalism poised to become a more mainstream issue, Tesla could be driving into a perfect storm. Of course, storms can be treacherous, and there's plenty that can go wrong. But by doing almost everything differently than it's been done before, Tesla Motors just might be ushering in a new era of automotive sanity.

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Reply to
Mort Guffman

I'm not sure what page you were reading, but on the web site it said A/C, heated leather seats, iPod connector, airbags and GPS nav are upgrades. On the website the price is $100K, $75K down payment to reserve one and $8000 charge if you are more than 100 miles from one of their distribution cities.

Reply to
WindsorFox[SS]

Tesla $100,000 Mustang GT convertible, c. $36,000 Difference $64,000.

Gas currently $2.59... So, if I bought the gas-guzzling American V8 instead of this supercool electric screamer, I could afford to buy 24,710 gallons of gas with the money saved. That's about 20 years' worth...

dwight (it IS a really cool electric car, though...)

Reply to
dwight

That's what I was thinking. If I had the money to pop on one of those I wouldn't give a rats ass (flaming no less...) about how much gas I used and the price there of. Now I can see some people with the money buying it solely because it's nifty, but at that price I can't see them selling very well. Because we all know that the celebs on the left coast don't practice what they preach.

Reply to
WindsorFox[SS]

On Fri, 06 Oct 2006 09:41:47 -0500, "WindsorFox[SS]" puked:

I wonder how much fossil fuel is burned to generate the electricity to charge one of those short range electric cars...

-- lab~rat >:-) Do you want polite or do you want sincere?

Reply to
lab~rat >:-)

:>On Fri, 06 Oct 2006 09:41:47 -0500, "WindsorFox[SS]" :> puked: :>

:>>>>> Well at 80K I don't expect to see one in my garage. :>>>>>

:>>>>> mort :>>>>>

:>>>> I'm not sure what page you were reading, but on the web site it said :>>>> A/C, heated leather seats, iPod connector, airbags and GPS nav are :>>>> upgrades. On the website the price is $100K, $75K down payment to reserve :>>>> one and $8000 charge if you are more than 100 miles from one of their :>>>> distribution cities. :>>> :>>> Tesla $100,000 :>>> Mustang GT convertible, c. $36,000 :>>> Difference $64,000. :>>> :>>> Gas currently $2.59... So, if I bought the gas-guzzling American V8 instead :>>> of this supercool electric screamer, I could afford to buy 24,710 gallons of :>>> gas with the money saved. That's about 20 years' worth... :>>> :>>> dwight :>>> (it IS a really cool electric car, though...) :>>> :>>> :>>

:>> That's what I was thinking. If I had the money to pop :>>on one of those I wouldn't give a rats ass (flaming no :>>less...) about how much gas I used and the price there of. :>>Now I can see some people with the money buying it solely :>>because it's nifty, but at that price I can't see them :>>selling very well. Because we all know that the celebs on :>>the left coast don't practice what they preach. :>

:>I wonder how much fossil fuel is burned to generate the electricity to :>charge one of those short range electric cars...

That's a point the tree huggers don't want to address. Plus, there are millions of american's who can't get to work using an electric ONLY car because the distances are too great.

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" Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief, Taffy came to my house and stole a leg of beef. "

Reply to
Mrs Ken Ehrett

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