At this time last year, it looked like Fisker Automotive and Tesla Motors were going to beat the big guys to the punch when it came to getting electric cars on the market. Fisker had introduced its Karma sedan way back in early 2008 and was predicting the start of production by the end of 2009. Tesla unwrapped its Model S sedan in the spring of last year and said it expected to have it ready by the third quarter of 2011.
Meanwhile, GM was still talking about the Volt while Nissan had yet to introduce the electric vehicle it was promising for some time. Looked like a classic case of the young, innovative upstarts showing the old-tech guys how it gets done in the digital age. Well, it did, that is, until it didn't.
While Fisker and Tesla were promising the world, GM and Nissan were plugging away with the usual product development cycles they were used to completing. In the case of the Volt, GM knew it was going to be awhile, but eventually set a date for late 2010 as its hard launch. Nissan rolled out its Leaf electric sedan last summer and promised to have it in select markets in late 2010.
Well, here we are in the middle of 2010 and where do things stand? GM says it's still on track to launch the Volt this November while Nissan says it will have production ready versions of its Leaf hatchback on sale by the end of this year.
And what about Fisker and Tesla? Fisker's 2009 promise came and went without much notice while its delays in 2010 caught a few potential buyers by surprise. Now its promising a production version of the Fisker by early 2011.
Tesla has delivered a similar set of promises. First it was late 2011, then early 2012 and now mid-2012 for the Model S sedan. There's been no sign of any true prototypes of either the Karma or the model S either.
So while Fisker and Tesla may be media darlings of some sort, they both have a ways to go before becoming viable companies, a situation that will only get worse when they lose the "first to market" novelty that GM and Nissan are sure to get from their electric cars. Who would you bet your money on?
questionlp says:
01:59 PM, 06/26/10
Kind of looks like an A5/S5 Sportback that we can't get here in the States, which isn't a bad thing at all. I just hope that they can actually produce as many as they want and what prices that the market will bear.
throwback says:
02:24 PM, 06/26/10
How many people have entered the auto business "to show Detroit how it's done", and failed miserably? Remember Cerburus?
tmanz says:
07:48 PM, 06/26/10
keep in mind that 2/3 of Detroit 'failed miserably' recently.
and the little guys nipping at their ankles may just keep Detroit awake enough to improve what they plan to offer in the future.
bodyblue says:
06:55 AM, 06/27/10
What a surprise.....all the government "grant" money given to Tesla will amount to nothing. It is disgusting.
tmanz says:
06:08 PM, 06/27/10
at least the rest of the money the government spent went to good use.
lostboyz says:
05:05 AM, 06/28/10
lets hear it for another case of vaporware
jederino says:
11:10 AM, 06/28/10
^^ I agree with all you people. The autobusiness is complicated. Ugly, exciting, wasteful, tone-deaf, infuriating, and incredibly hard to improve upon. I hate to say it, but I'm glad we bailed them out because they build things and employ real people, all at great risk. And the Big 2/3 are becoming nothing like the great British motors debacle of the 70's with hundreds of unions striking and fighting with Gov/Management and doing everything except building good cars. The Big 2/3 aren't that, so I'm proud of them. Not so happy with: 1) Federal Representatives' Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac social experiment 2) The Fed's Bubble-making fascination 3) The less-well directed porkulus spending (please spend on Roads/Transit/Ports infrastructure for the next 3 years, then cut spending radically once private picks up construction). I bet you can think of others, but the Big 2/3 are probably not even close to being in there.
csubowtie says:
12:37 PM, 06/28/10
Fisker and Tesla made some pretty wild promises, so it's not suprising to see them not be able to deliver. But hopefully those can be chalked up to overconfidence and underestimating the business and not a real lack of ability. I would really like to see these cars make it to market. It would be good on so many levels; environmentally, technologically, and pushing the rest of the OE's to make better products.