Tesla Sabotage?

[babak]

I don't know how seriously to take this source, so here it is:
http://gizmodo.com/379883/telsa-elec...ite-star-sedan

[milehitom]

And here's the NY Times link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/te...gy&oref=slogin

Tom

[babak]

So it's reliable, wow, it could have disastrous implications.

[MattG]

Perhaps, though it sounds like it was only a minor setback to Tesla's Whitestar plans. Fiskar is a small company, not well suited to take on a Silicon Valley startup with major VC backing.

[Greg]

Welcome to the valley!

Precept #1, protect your IP.

'Greg

[Thomasio]

I hope that they were savvy enough to use NDAs / confidentiality agreements before giving those two access to proprietary information.

[andrewgotanelise]

I've met that fisker guy at private showing of his 2 cars at the st. regis. Weird

[DuffMan]

Yea, I just hope this kind of bad press ends his career if he really did sabotage Tesla and steal their designs.

[Thomasio]

Originally Posted by DuffMan

Yea, I just hope this kind of bad press ends his career if he really did sabotage Tesla and steal their designs.

There are two sides to every story. (And then there is the truth.)

[Shawn C]

"and Mr. Fisker’s recently announced Karma"

Fisker, Karma is a bitch! Sorry, couldnt resist. Sorry but I cant see a designer/coachbuilder become a electric/engineer overnight ... sorry. All he does is re-badge 645 BMW's and SL500's and he calls himself a carbuilder??? and all of a sudden has the latest state of the art electric car technology after working with Telsa. You cant make this kind of **** up!

[knucklehead]

Originally Posted by Thomasio

I hope that they were savvy enough to use NDAs / confidentiality agreements before giving those two access to proprietary information.

They are.

[loanshark]

Originally Posted by Shawn C

"and Mr. Fisker’s recently announced Karma"

Fisker, Karma is a bitch! Sorry, couldnt resist. Sorry but I cant see a designer/coachbuilder become a electric/engineer overnight ... sorry. All he does is re-badge 645 BMW's and SL500's and he calls himself a carbuilder??? and all of a sudden has the latest state of the art electric car technology after working with Telsa. You cant make this kind of **** up!

The guy does AMAZING art work. He is a coach builder from yesteryear. If you think his cars are just rebadged 645 and Sl500s, I want a piece of whatever you are smoking

[Greg]

I don't know the whole story, but Tesla is still building it's cars w/ mostly off-the-shelf technology, albeit scaled up from use in other traditional products. It's not all that much rocket science. Fisker's web site states that the driveline was developed by a company called Quantum Technologies:

http://www.fiskerautomotive.com/technology/

These guys have been around a while, and are publicly traded since '03:
http://www.qtww.com/

'Greg

[Shawn C]

Originally Posted by loanshark

The guy does AMAZING art work. He is a coach builder from yesteryear. If you think his cars are just rebadged 645 and Sl500s, I want a piece of whatever you are smoking

Ahhh, I love his design work on the AMV8 and DB9 but his two current cars are built up SL500's and 6 series bimmers. Anyone who buys one for over 200K is the one who is smoking.

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by Thomasio

There are two sides to every story. (And then there is the truth.)

Yea, I know, hence the conditional "If he really did..."

Anyway, am I the only person who thinks that it's the engineers who should have the final say on the car's body as that determines stuff such as drag co-efficient, down force, available space, and so on? I guess those don't matter a whole bunch on non-performance cars, but in my own idealized world form following function is it's own beauty.

[Frank Amoroso]

Originally Posted by MattG

Perhaps, though it sounds like it was only a minor setback to Tesla's Whitestar plans. Fiskar is a small company, not well suited to take on a Silicon Valley startup with major VC backing.

Hmmm, Tesla certainly has an excellent syndicate of venture backers, not to mention Elon Musk's backing, but Fisker is now backed by Kleiner Perkins. It doesn't get much more "major VC" than that.

[Greg]

Originally Posted by Frank Amoroso

Hmmm, Tesla certainly has an excellent syndicate of venture backers, not to mention Elon Musk's backing, but Fisker is now backed by Kleiner Perkins. It doesn't get much more "major VC" than that.

And KP was an original backer of Google, and Sergey an early backer of Tesla. The valley is very incestuous.

'Greg

[ChrisB]

Originally Posted by Shawn C

... All he does is re-badge 645 BMW's and SL500's and he calls himself a carbuilder???

He didn't call his business that is based on the BMW and Mercedes a "carbuilder" company. It is Fisker Coachbuild and operates like the many coachbuilders of the classic era. If you think they are just rebadged, then you haven't seen them. They are rebodied inside and out. You can argue about whether they are worth the price, but clearly to those who bought them, they are. Fisker's cars are to the originals much like the Bentley Continental is to the Volkswagen Phaeton.

[Mag]

well flip side to this is higher competition which in many cases is better for the consumer. dont know much background on story but imagine if the "techno theif" has put in the investments (or better yet a clever investor has) that this is an indication of market viability. Although I can't imagine the thought of a noiseless sports car, I think there's a good chance I'll own one in the near future. Better if progress is pushed along faster, as companies race to the market... Oil prices not coming back down in the long term and I'm not getting any younger.