Tesla Model S – Production Ready – I hope.

Posted: January 20, 2011 in Audi, Fisker Automotive, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, Tesla Motors
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Below is the latest company-released video of the Tesla Model S.

This thing is supposed to seat 7 people: 5 adults and 2 children. Huh? How? Well, it seems that it doesn’t have a traditional trunk; it has a hatchback like the new Audi A7 Sportsback.  In the cargo area, under the hatch, there are rear-facing seats like in the Mercedes E-Class wagons or your dad’s old Country Squire.  So that’s two adults in front, three in the traditional back seat and two kids in the boot.

The Tesla Model S unibody. Looks nice in the "flesh." (c) Norman Mayershon/New York Times

Tesla has published few official photos of the interior. Below is the official cockpit picture, that we assume is the production-ready version.  The Model S (couldn’t they come up with a more evocative name?) will have a 17″ touch-screen in the center with 3-G connectivity.  What, no 4G? I hope it doesn’t run on AT&T’s 3-G network as it sucks in most of Los Angeles.

Tesla Model S Interior (c) Tesla Motors

Tesla claims the Model S will have a 300 mile range, with an asterisk.  The “base” model, MSRP $57,900 has a projected range of 160 miles. You have to pay big bucks extra to get additional batteries that will stretch the range to 300 miles. That’s a tall order, for sure. If it’s too hot or too cold, the battery vampires attack and drain as much as 30% out of the battery. Still, 160 miles is enough to get you to Palm Springs on a single charge.  The Nissan Leaf won’t do that, but the Nissan Leaf costs $25,000 less.

Tesla also claims the Model S will have a top speed of 120 mph with 0-60 in 5.6 seconds.

The Model S is more “affordable” than the Tesla $130k Roadster and it appears that its size and level of luxury places it smack into territory currently occupied by other  “4-door coupes”  like the Mercedes CLS, the Audi A7 Sportsback and the Porsche Panamera.  In LA, $60 0r $70k is chump change to appear Green to all your entertainment buddies.  And in many cases, some one else will be making the lease payment.

2011 Audi A7 Sportsback

2011 Mercedes-Benz CLS550

2011 Porsche Panamera Hybrid

If Tesla pulls it off and actually starts mass production of the Model S, it will be the most practical and luxurious pure electric vehicle on the road. Even the upcoming Fisker Karma will only seat four people and it’s not a pure EV as it has a range-extending gas engine that drives a generator to recharge the batteries – like the Chevy Volt.  The electric future is going to be very interesting!

2012 Fisker Karma

GM’s Back to Its Old Tricks

Posted: January 19, 2011 in Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, General Motors, GMC, Opel
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One would hope that after GM’s massive bankruptcy, something would have shaken GM’s  infamous entrenched bureaucracy and Byzantine divisional structure to its core.  Once Saturn, Pontiac and Oldsmobile were vanquished to history’s dustbin, only Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC remained.  The old practice of taking a Chevy and cloning its products upstream to every division was supposed to be dead, right?  Not so much.

For as long as I can remember, GMC has had no unique products, but the premium GM gets for dressing up Chevy trucks is so seductive that it couldn’t give up that profit center. Okay, I get it, but I think GMC could have been jettisoned and a new sub-brand of Chevrolet could be created to sell Chevy trucks that look better and are laden with luxury.  My idea was to have the Black Tie division or sub-brand. It would be instantly recognizable as a Chevy and the Black Bow Tie on the grill would be prestigious.  That way, you didn’t have to feed a completely separate division and you could keep the profits within Chevrolet. No such luck. We are stuck with GMC.

Buick was supposed to be different. It was going to get some rebadged Opels, and that’s what you have with the LaCrosse and Regal – both based on the Opel Insignia platform. Sure the Enclave is just a Chevy Traverse or GMC Acadia, but that comes from the “old GM” where each division got a cloned Chevy.

I guess the temptation to fall back into its old ways was too much when the Chevy Cruze was introduced.  Chevy  uses the Cruze platform for the Volt and the Cruze is a world car sold in many markets outside the U.S.  The use of a world platform drives the costs down to the point were GM can build the Cruze in the US (Lordstown, OH) and still make money.

The car of no one's dreams: The Cadillac Cimmaron

A Chevy Cavalier: Looks a bit too much like that Cadillac, huh?

Enter the Buick Verano: A rebadged Chevy Cruze with some cheap-looking fake wood accents and a few more luxury appointments. What next? A modern Cadillac Cimmaron?  See if you see any family resemblances….

2012 Buick Verano: Front

2011 Chevy Cruze: Front

2012 Buick Verano: Rear

2011 Chevy Cruze: Rear

2012 Buick Verano: Cockpit

2011 Chevy Cruze: Cockpit

Sure, there are some subtle differences, but it all looks just a bit too familiar.  The Verano is better than other GM rebadged products in that the cockpit shows some different fascia and the door armrests are reshaped, but the size and look is still Chevrolet, in my humble opinion.  The exterior is also familiar in overall dimension, including the door cutouts and roof slant. The Buick gets a Buick grille and distinctive taillights. Whoop de doo.

GM is crowing about Buick’s sales renaissance; but when you start with such a low bar, it’s not hard to have double digit (55%) increases.  From my point of view in LA, Buick isn’t finding younger buyers; its finding its place in the rental fleets again. Hell, it’s hard to even find a Buick dealer in town.  The Santa Monica GM dealer now appears to share space with Santa Monica Infiniti!  This was a tiny dealership to begin with, so I don’t know how that’s going to work.  The  times I’ve gone there to  look at new models, they haven’t had any inventory.

Buick just doesn’t seem to have any traction in the LA market.  I doubt the Verano is going to help. I see a rental car fleet in its future.

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