Production of electric (Tesla) roadster delayed

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/news/driving/story.html?id=e289e2c7-42a4-4e31-abe3-50e9b49dd67a

Production of electric roadster delayed

Alan Ohnsman, Bloomberg News
Published: Friday, October 05, 2007

LOS ANGELES -- Tesla Motors Inc., aiming to be the first high-volume U.S. maker of electric sports cars, delayed production of its $100,000 Roadster for a second time because of concerns about quality.

Deliveries will begin in 2008 instead of this year, Tesla said in a statement today. The San Carlos, Calif.-based company plans to build 50 Teslas in the first quarter and 600 more later in the year.

"The real issue is durability testing. We want to do more of it than we thought we would," Darryl Siry, vice president of marketing for Tesla, said in an interview. "We want to get this car right and not rush into production."

The decision again postpones Tesla's plans to sell thousands of Roadsters powered by 6,800 rechargeable lithium-ion battery cells. The company also said it will stop taking reservations for additional cars. Potential buyers will instead be put on a waiting list, for a fee of $5,000.

Problems with a transmission design prevented Tesla from delivering cars by the middle of this year.

...

[gateley]

1. I'm so sorry to hear this. I'm a big Tesla Motors fan and I can hardly wait

for the Roadsters to get on the road so people can see how efficient and cool an electric car can be.

I also like their marketing approach -- to make a big splash with this sexy performance car, and use revenue from that to build sedans and more affordable "every day people" cars (which are actually in production now).

I'll keep the faith. I believe the future of cars (at this point) can be electric and we don't have to mess around with any other types of "fuels".

Thanks for posting this.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. Late, but good is better than timely, and buggy

They cannot afford to wait until everything is 100%, but they could not afford the PR black eye that would result from rushing these things to market before they're fairly solid.

[gateley]

3. You're absolutely right. I feel better - thanks! nt

[GliderGuider]

4. Hey, look! Finally something is happening Slower Than Expected...

Good luck, Roadstr-boyz!