The Inquisitr » tesla

VW Tuareg 1 vs Tesla 0

Duncan Riley — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 22:51:44 +0000

What happens when a VW Tuareg, Tesla and Toyota Prius meet in the one spot? Well according to a story out of Denmark in October, the above happens.

A translation at What’s Up With That says that the VW Tuareg stopped on a small road due to construction work, with the Tesla behind it. The Prius driver either wasn’t watching, or resented that the Tesla looked better and runs on electricity only, so pushed the Tesla under the Tuareg.

On a side note, I wonder if this picture will make Jason Calacanis cry?

Here’s a serious non-surprise: Tesla’s have been recalled

Duncan Riley — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:09:50 +0000

Silicon Valley’s favorite car company, the maker of seriously overpriced electric cars Tesla has issued a safety recall for all its vehicles.

The recall effects all Tesla vehicles manufactured before April 22, 2009 (all 345 of them), and relate to a manufacturing default of a part that causes the Tesla’s to experience “uncharacteristic handling,” what ever that means.

Tesla owner Jason Calacanis noted proudly that Tesla is offering to come to the homes of Tesla owners to fix the problem, and so they should given how much owners pay for them, something upwards of $101,000. Calacanis claims that other cars also experience recalls, and that’s true, however it would appear that the likelihood of a recall may be relative to the price, that is, the more your spend, the more likely you’re going to get a recall.

Jason has the full notice of the Tesla recall available here.

Why Tesla should get a $400 million bailout

Duncan Riley — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:44:28 +0000

There’s much discussion in the tech blogosphere about the request from Silicon Valley’s favorite electric car make Tesla for a $400 million bailout…sorry “loan” from the US Government.

There’s points on either side, so as best I can I’ll explore both cases, and conclude in the positive.

Against

Tesla makes niche expensive sports cars, and even then has struggled at doing that. The company may have high ideals, but they are not well equipped for mass market products.

They also make vehicles for the rich. As much as I respect and admire Jason Calacanis, his suggestion that a new $60,000 Tesla “family car” is affordable in his latest email (reprinted here) shows a complete lack of understanding of affordability. $60,000 for a car is a lot of money and the average family would struggle to buy a $60,000 car good times, let alone bad times.

It’s also a bad investment with no guarantee of a return. Tesla has always struggled, and how a $60,000 family car in a deep recession will improve their outlook is beyond me. Sure, they make shiny, pretty electric cars, but why should the taxpayer support that?

For

Everyone else is getting a bailout, why not Tesla.

Conclusion

We live in strange times, a period in history of unprecedented Government intervention in the market, where Government has ceased to be for the greater good, and is instead now picking favorites with taxpayer money, propping up failed businesses who mostly have no one else to blame for their positions other than themselves. The bailout is obscene by any stretch of the imagination, and now that the door is open there would appear to be no end of companies that want their share.

Given companies far more incompetent than Tesla, such as Ford and GM are getting some money, there’s something perversely fair and equatable about Tesla getting a share of the money as well. That is, sadly, the case for, but given context, it is the stronger of the two arguments.

Also see Allen Stern for another take, with the suggestion that the money would be better spent investing in public transport.