I was at a show in Boston, and got to (finally) see and touch the car.
It is a bit small, but the fit and finish was very nice. The price is a bit high ($112,000)-but presumably that will come down.
My question: is the carbon fiber body a big part of the price? Can this material be mass-produced?
Is this a vehicle that could be made to sell for say, $40,000 when in mass production?
I bet it made you feel tingly all over.
The batteries are the big part of the price. The underlying car is a Lotus Elise, which has a base MSRP of $47,250 and has most of its body panels made of a similar composite. The front clam-shell on the Elise will run you (or your insurance) about $7k to replace.
So to answer your question, yeah, but not because of the carbon fiber.
I rubbed my junk on one at the Detroit Auto show.
They let you bring a Chinese Boat to a Car Show?
I saw one drive by me in the parking lot at my optometrist. I couldn’t hear it as it went by. Are they that rare? We get a fair amount of exotic cars in this town though.
The new model, the Tesla S, will sell for just under $50,000, though the price goes up if you want the extended-mileage battery. Tesla is taking orders now for delivery in 2012.