EoW November 2009

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EuroWire – November 2009 19
Whether this rarefied transaction will edify the battered auto
makers of Detroit remains to be seen. Preliminary overtures
by Mr Martin suggest an industry preoccupied, for now, with
issues related to survival. But he is brimming with confidence
and will renew his attack in six months or so, his views on the US
vis-à-vis China intact.
“China will grow, but China is not the whole world,” the
Austrian-born Mr Martin told the Free Press. “I believe in the
US economy. Some people in Europe think the American auto
industry is done, but they are mistaken. The auto market and
the overall economy will rebound.”
A breakthrough for the electric car:
Tesla’s fast-off-the-mark ‘Roadster’
turns a monthly profit
In other news involving exotic automobiles, the technology-
focused blog TechCrunch reported on 7th August that, in July, the
electric car manufacturer Tesla posted its first profit.
The privately owned company, based in San Carlos, California,
said it shipped 109 Roadsters in the month. The all-electric sports
car with the homely name but the high price ($109,000) boosted
Tesla to “approximately $1 million of earnings” on revenues of
$20 million.
The Roadster’s ability to reach a speed of 60 miles per hour in
4 seconds would make it competitive with some Porsches and
Lamborghinis. Of more practical interest, the car’s reported fuel
efficiency (100 miles per gallon of gasoline) is approximately
double that of the hybrid Toyota Prius.
Tesla’s introduction of the Roadster in June 2006 featured a test
drive by California’s governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the
company’s high-profile backers still lean toward showmanship.
The latest Tesla dealership, in Manhattan, is located not on auto
row but in the Chelsea art district – in a former art gallery inside
a building full of galleries.
But turning a profit on the Roadster represents a solid
accomplishment, wrought from cost economies and stream-
lined production methods. According to Andrew Heining of
the ecology-centred blog Horizons, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk
has succeeded in bringing down materials costs for the
high-performance car from $140,000 to $80,000.
Steady production of 20 to 30 Roadsters per week will support
the company’s expanding network of outlets in major US cities
and Europe.
Tesla will also offer an all-electric sedan – at half the price of the
Roadster – for which it has received a $465 million loan under
the US Department of Energy’s $25 billion programme to help
auto manufacturers.
The money will go towards completing the development of
the Modern S and its electric power trains. The car’s battery
packs are being licensed to other car makers such as Mercedes,
whose parent company Daimler has just paid $50 million for a
10% Tesla stake.