Monday, November 10, 2008

Have Detroit fast-track Tesla

We’ve heard more than enough this year about Detroit begging for a bail-out following its biggest fiasco in product-planning history. Not only should our government attach some drastic conditions to any financing aimed at helping the big three U.S. automakers. An great idea and superb opportunity would be to fast-track Tesla Motors, Inc. the Silicon Valley electric automobile start-up into full-fledged mass-production. Currently, there’s just the Tesla Roadster, an all-electric sports car that offers an impressive performance along with a substantial driving range (221 miles - 356 km) and a low powering cost estimated at US$0.02 per mile. Production began on March 17, 2008 and in addition to that model, Tesla is also currently working on a sedan to be introduced as a 2010 model, to compete against the BMW 5 Series and Audi A6. Another future model with a cost in the $30,000 range is to be released in 2012. The idea would be to Detroit’s pool its mass production know-how with all the engineering already developed by Tesla and have Motown act as a contractor in that project. With the proper extra funding and with incorporating Tesla as the flagship of a revived American auto industry, the country could use this synergy as the centerpiece of its new energy policy. This would go a long way to capture everyone’s imagination and would be poised to garner all the support needed to give everyone a solid reason to buy a brand new car.

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