Tesla taking over former GM plant.

**Whitehouse** · September-30-10, 04:13 PM

No, this is not in Detroit....
Empty NUMMI auto factory gets new life as Tesla moves in

General Motors-Toyota auto plant in Fremont, Calif., shut down in April, many pronounced it dead — a triple victim of the recession, sliding auto sales and GM's bankruptcy.
But the former New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. facility, or NUMMI, is about to come to life. Electric-car maker Tesla Motors Inc., which surprised many when it announced plans to buy the plant in May, officially takes ownership Friday.

**maxx** · September-30-10, 04:58 PM

http://news.cnet.com/tesla-motors-ce...than-it-looks/
"...

"The ownership cost of Model S [$56,400], if you were to lease and then account for the much lower cost of electricity versus gasoline at a likely future cost of $4 per gallon, is similar to a gasoline car with a sticker price of about $35,000," he wrote.

**Det_ard** · September-30-10, 05:47 PM

But is it union-made? What % domestic content? Do the workers have defined-benefit pension plans?

**ndavies** · September-30-10, 06:59 PM

Tesla is this generation's Delorean.

**Mikeg** · September-30-10, 07:54 PM

"The ownership cost of Model S [$56,400], if you were to lease and then account for the much lower cost of electricity versus gasoline at a likely future cost of $4 per gallon, is similar to a gasoline car with a sticker price of about $35,000," he wrote.

So many unanswered questions -

What is the cost of a new battery pack that you will eventually need?

What is your time worth if you have to delay a trip while your Tesla recharges?

$56,400 - is that before or after accounting for the purchase subsidy you get from the US government [[the $7,500 federal tax credit)?

What is the cost to the taxpayers for the $350 million dollar loan Tesla is receiving from the US government?

If this car is so great, why does it need so much government financial support ?

**Whitehouse** · September-30-10, 09:03 PM

Originally Posted by ndavies

Tesla is this generation's Delorean.

Sofat Tesla is not drug-related.

And now this looks like mass production, I expect the prize to go down on new Teslas. When the demand dries up the prize goes down as well, until the profit magin is gone. After which new models will appear. The story of the automobile industry.

lilpup · September-30-10, 09:20 PM

I'll be surprised if Tesla even gears back up after this pause they're taking. The Volt makes Tesla obsolete.

**sirrealone** · October-01-10, 06:54 AM

Screw Tesla. They made a big fanfare about opening up a tech center in Michigan, getting all kinds of tax credits, setting up, only to close it less than a year later, moving the jobs out to California. They can keep the cars out there since apparently Michigan wasn't good enough for them.

**Papasito** · October-01-10, 07:10 AM

2011 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder

Invoice $26,500 - $31,02319 / 26 mpg
http://autos.yahoo.com/2011_mitsubishi_eclipse_spyder/

TESLA : $56400
ECLIPSE : $30000
----------------------
[$26400 DIFFERENCE]

$26400 Buys a lot of gas.
In fact, $200 a month in gas for 132 months.
[[That's 11 years of gas, folks.)

**Papasito** · October-01-10, 07:30 AM

Originally Posted by lilpup

The Volt makes Tesla obsolete.

In Tesla's defense, the Volt is a piece of crap that has horrible styling and the reliability of a Cavalier.

vs

chevy volt.............................................. ..................tesla

Chevrolet Volt:
3/36 limited bumper to bumper
eight-year/100,000-mile limited warranty on the battery and related components.

Tesla:
3/36 limited bumper to bumper
5 year limited warranty on the battery and related components.

GM Batteries? If you have owned a GM in the last ten years, you know that the modern AC Delco batteries are crap. GM Electronics? Thier radios, computers, ac control heads, instrument clusters, ect. .... all chinese, mexican, and southeast asian garbage, built by whoever GM could find that can make it the fastest the cheapest.
.
Make your choice, and good luck to you!

**jiminnm** · October-01-10, 10:12 AM

Originally Posted by sirrealone

Screw Tesla. They made a big fanfare about opening up a tech center in Michigan, getting all kinds of tax credits, setting up, only to close it less than a year later, moving the jobs out to California. They can keep the cars out there since apparently Michigan wasn't good enough for them.

Tesla's original plan, supposedly, was to build their manufacturing plant here in Albuquerque. NM put together a package of tax incentives and infrastructure improvements [[total $15-20 million) and the search for space began. California then came in and offered a financing [[$100 million tax free) and tax abatement [[$20-30 million) package. They also somehow got a $50 million private capital infusion from Toyota. NM simply couldn't match the numbers, and manufacturing will now occur at the old NUMMI facility in CA.

**Papasito** · October-01-10, 10:23 AM

If our system was fair and compeditive, the Government would not need to offer special tax breaks to attract businesses. The simple fact that they have to do it at all implies something is already broken.

**maxx** · October-01-10, 10:38 AM

Originally Posted by Papasito

If our system was fair and compeditive, the Government would not need to offer special tax breaks to attract businesses. The simple fact that they have to do it at all implies something is already broken.

It's the way business is done today. I don't know who first started the tax break for business, but nowadays states compete for businesses just like businesses compete with each other.

**ndavies** · October-01-10, 12:31 PM

Originally Posted by Papasito

In Tesla's defense, the Volt is a piece of crap that has horrible styling and the reliability of a Cavalier.

vs

chevy volt.............................................. ..................tesla

Chevrolet Volt:
3/36 limited bumper to bumper
eight-year/100,000-mile limited warranty on the battery and related components.

Tesla:
3/36 limited bumper to bumper
5 year limited warranty on the battery and related components.

GM Batteries? If you have owned a GM in the last ten years, you know that the modern AC Delco batteries are crap. GM Electronics? Thier radios, computers, ac control heads, instrument clusters, ect. .... all chinese, mexican, and southeast asian garbage, built by whoever GM could find that can make it the fastest the cheapest.
.
Make your choice, and good luck to you!

You forgot to mention the pice. The tesla vehicle you have pictured costs over $100,000. The Volt is 1/3 the price.

There only exists one prototype of the vehicle that is going nto compete with the volt.

I would also think the quality of a GM vehicle will be much higher than Tesla. Tesla has absolutely no track record with high volume production. I predict they will be completely consumed by recalls on the first batch of production vehicles they ship. [[If they ship any.). The vehicle they are shipping now is a lotus with a Tesla drive train. It's one thing to put a hand modified car on the road, Its a completely different story when you have to build a vehicle from scratch that needs to cater to the normal driving public.

Most of the syling was done by Lotus, so I wouldn't attribute the styling to Tesla.

And if your interested in the things that could go wrong for tesla. Follow this link:
http://jalopnik.com/5613906/ten-ways...lose-its-juice

These are risks are all listed in Teslas last SEC filing.

lilpup · October-01-10, 10:48 PM

I believe Tesla's IPO was timed before the Volt rollout and before they made any more substantial investment in the GM plant and their proposed forthcoming model so that Musk could try to soothe the pain of their previous losses before going belly-up. They'll never go mass production and few, if any, of the Model S will be built.