Not really Kaiser,so shoot me!

[Corsairdeluxe]

So far the federal Govt. has subsidized this car to the tune of $180,000 dollars per unit produced.Imagine how many Kaisers and Henry Js we would have made if the then Feds were as loose with a buck!

The Feds want all fire dept. units to carry special fire fighting apparutus to use on electric powered vehicles. The total cost factored by the actual times needed should be a real
"shocker".

From This months AAACA  meeting
at Cape Canaveral Fl.

Patrick Pavlicin of Viera presented a program on the Tesla Automobile. Patrick owns a Model S Tesla. The Tesla is an all-electric automobile and is made in California. There are no dealers and each car is either picked up or delivered to the customer. The battery pack contains 7,000 lithium battery cells and will go an average of 300 miles on one charge and will completely recharge in about 20 minutes. It will go from 0-60 mph in 4.1 seconds. Following the meeting, members were invited to check out this beautiful automobile.

[Fid]

And named for Nicola Tesla no doubt.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

You are correct  about the namesake, but what a lot of people haven't realized that the entire Tesla Motors operation is hanging by a thread despite the boost in its stock price over the last 6 months.

Tesla's marketing program calls for retail customers to order cars on line from the manufacturer; no dealers and outside of the battery exchange centers (of which there are not many at present) no servicing in the field.  This is a violation of motor vehicle sales laws for new cars in most of the 50 United States.  Tesla Motors is taking the states to court in an effort to get an exemption from the laws car makers have been forced to follow for decades or get the laws overturned completely.

If they are unsuccessful, the company could collapse like a house of cards.  Assuming that you bought a new one--regardless of the price--what happens if you are in an accident?  What about spare parts if something breaks (like a front suspension assembly)?  Do you box the thing up and ship it back to the factory for repair?   Does someone bring a replacement car to your home and do an exchange?  No this is not worked out as far as I have been able to find out.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

And as for the government and loaning money to car companies, remember it was the government that bailed out Kaiser-Frazer in 1949 and gave them additional operating money in 1950 PLUS fronted cash to get production lines set up for defense work during the Korean War.  The Recovery Finance Corporation (RFC) was a government agency set up during the New Deal era and continued making loans to businesses into 1951. 

Every penny loaned to Kaiser-Frazer by the RFC was paid back, with interest and ahead of schedule!

[Logan]

"What about spare parts if something breaks?"  Sounds like the same thing people were saying about KF products when they were still being produced.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Even in 1955 there were Kaiser and Willys dealers showing the flag.  Anybody got a list of Tesla Motors Service Centers or actual Tesla Motors Dealers that can give you immediate (or close to immediate) delivery?

I think not on either...Battery Exchange Stations do not count, by the way.

[Logan]

That is true, but that was not my point.  Almost from the beginning people were afraid KF would go defunct, and that they would no longer be able to obtain parts and service.  I'm not saying anything about Tesla.  In fact, I think your argument is spot on.

[StillOutThere]

Bob Lutz has bought into Tesla and will now build the cars with Vette drivetrains.   Knowing Bob, he'll make a success out of this.

[BigDave LM6174]

My neighbor is a Engineer, and business he works for created some of the special tooling for the Tesla.  My neighbor says that his understanding is that select GM dealers will be contracted to service the cars.   Funny he brought up the topic.  I let him read the forum.  He agrees that hard to see it work with no dealership for just tesla

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

From what I hear at GM (and I work at a GM engine plant) There are NO Corvette engines going into anything other than Corvettes; build capacity only allows for use in the 6.2 in Corvettes and as an engine choice for a new Chevrolet car coming out in 2014 (preliminary info on the Chevrolet website under Chevy SS) and in slightly different configuration on the Silverado trucks.  I have involvement in the engine project.   Mr. Lutz is not involved in any management capacity at Tesla Motors at least at the present time.  Expect significant bad news for the company in the fall on the dealer issue.

Why do you think Eldon Musk is now talking about this hyperloop transportation system?  He's moving on.

[BigDave LM6174]

Here is a video of the assembly line at Tesla.

I think if they put one of their robots in a parking lot, they can call it a service center.

http://devour.com/video/how-a-tesla-is-made/

[84RabbitGTI]

I saw a Tesla sales dealership in downtown Seattle several times over the last few years. It is almost in the shadow of the Space Needle.  I noticed some sports cars outside, but I don't know if they serviced the cars.  From what Jack says, the probably don't.  Tesla has a... room... store...?  what ever, in the Bellevue Square Mall in Bellevue, WA that has been there for a few years.  They had one of the sports cars and the lower frame/battery area/running gear from the sedan on display and three sales personnel on hand, plus sales brochures for the curious, and there were a lot of curious.  I picked up a few.  The second time we were there a year later, they had the sedan on display.  It is an amazing piece of technology.
At a local Porsche meet, someone brought a Tesla, and the Porsche guys were all over it.  To a car geek, it was a cool thing to check out. 
I've talked to a few owners of them, and they really like them and drive them some pretty long distances, more than I would have thought comfortable. 
The Feds have put a lot of money into the Interstate 5 corridor to have a bunch of charging stations installed.  As usual for a Government (State and Federal) project, they have spent a colossal amount of money and have little to show for it, except some enriched politicians and lawyers.
Thanks for your extra bit of information and corrections, Jack.  Seems electric cars have become such a political issue that it is hard to learn the truth about their problems and their successes.