Toyota tech manager puts Tesla, Fisker, and Volt on "death watch"
While Toyota's media representatives claim that the company's too classy to engage in an "official death watch," that doesn't exactly rule out the informal, unsanctioned office pool. According to the national manager of Toyota's Advanced Technology Group, Bill Reinert, that's exactly what's going on. In an interview with the EV World newsletter, Reinert spilled the beans about the somewhat mean-spirited games going around the office. Some of his employees have already started a death watch on three of the most anticipated cars of the decade: the Chevy Volt, Fisker Karma, and the Tesla Model S (Whitestar). These skeptics say that each of the models -- particularly the Tesla sedan -- will never reach critical volumes simply because their batteries are too expensive. I don't really know how a death watch works. Is it like a baby pool?
In seemingly contradictory news, Toyota and GM seem to be in a race to launch the first mass-produced EV. Just yesterday, both automakers made announcements that they're moving up the timetables on the release of their plug-ins. So, maybe Reinert's just talking trash.
[via Earth2Tech]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-30-2008 @ 12:44PM
Glenn said...
The real question is this: Would Toyota have planned a plug-in for early '09 if it weren't for Tesla and Volt? I don't think they had any plans for any kind of plug-in whatsoever.
At this point its pretty much irrelevant whether Tesla makes it or not, the genie is out of the bottle.
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8-31-2008 @ 8:17PM
stevefazek said...
Ryan you need to understand that any new car has its problems. The volt and are doing all the development out in the open and in record time.
The volts price overrun is very simple the dollar is getting trashed from the time they announced the car to today
The tesla the transmission is really a non issue today they tried to do a complicated 2 speed system which wasnt needed. Fisker has been building cars for years. They are a coach builder they would take BMWs and rebody them
8-30-2008 @ 12:44PM
ryan said...
You don't even need to work in the auto industry to make these predictions.
1) Tesla has had many many internal problems. Their cars are slowly leaking out, and being plagued with transmission and battery problems.
2) Has Fisker produced ANYTHING yet?
3) The Volt project just keeps getting more expensive and outlandish as time goes by.
Then again, Toyota really doesn't have anything other than the Prius lined up for electron-driven goodness. Mitsubishi is leading the pack in that one.
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