Porsche Buying a Tesla Roadster to Study It
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LOS ANGELES — It is an understood truth that important R&D departments and their engineers remain important by learning all they can from the successes and mistakes of their competitors. The latest proof of that is the purchase of a Tesla Roadster by Porsche's scientists in Weissach, Germany.
A Tesla spokesperson told Inside Line, "A Porsche senior engineer actually came over a few weeks back, and he was seriously analyzing the car in every detail." The spokesperson said that Porsche will have to wait a little while to get a Tesla, as the automaker is "pretty far down on the list of current orders."
Separately, a German source has told Inside Line that Porsche is none too pleased with the recently tested eRuf , created by tuner Ruf and California expert Calmotors using a 997 911 Carrera chassis and body packed with lithium-ion units. No one is detailing exactly why Porsche is unhappy with the car — which Inside Line tested and will report on soon — but Porsche is known to be working on its own lithium-ion-powered prototype.
Tesla has revealed that the full first run of 250 planned European roadsters for 2009 will come loaded to the max with top-line leather, a premium audio package, painted carbon fiber and other expected high-end touches, all standard in the €99,000 base price ($124,000).
What this means to you: We suspect this is a case of Porsche engineers simply being upset over the "not invented here" aspect. They'll get over it and build the best lithium-ion racer ever. — Matt Davis, Correspondent
A Tesla spokesperson told Inside Line, "A Porsche senior engineer actually came over a few weeks back, and he was seriously analyzing the car in every detail." The spokesperson said that Porsche will have to wait a little while to get a Tesla, as the automaker is "pretty far down on the list of current orders."
Separately, a German source has told Inside Line that Porsche is none too pleased with the recently tested eRuf , created by tuner Ruf and California expert Calmotors using a 997 911 Carrera chassis and body packed with lithium-ion units. No one is detailing exactly why Porsche is unhappy with the car — which Inside Line tested and will report on soon — but Porsche is known to be working on its own lithium-ion-powered prototype.
Tesla has revealed that the full first run of 250 planned European roadsters for 2009 will come loaded to the max with top-line leather, a premium audio package, painted carbon fiber and other expected high-end touches, all standard in the €99,000 base price ($124,000).
What this means to you: We suspect this is a case of Porsche engineers simply being upset over the "not invented here" aspect. They'll get over it and build the best lithium-ion racer ever. — Matt Davis, Correspondent
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Notion of serious manufacturer looking at what one failing startup is doing with integrating off the shelf components just proves how serious that manufacturer is about hybrids (not).
In past 3-4 years, I have read a bit about Porsche and their hybrid development.
There was an good interview in 2006 about how they wanted to buy Toyota technology that Toyota used in RX400h, and decided to build their own once Toyota told them that they could not just buy one piece of tech, it is complete system with the engine.
And then how, after 2 years of development on their own, they realized how hard it was and how right toyota was... and they delayed the introduction from 2006 to 2008... and it is delayed again of course :-).
Problem is that German companies do not want to spend $$$ on R&D, they would preffer to buy the system from suppliers (just like they do with regular cars) and suppliers on the other hand dont want to risk investing huge R&D into hybrids either....
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