[justin66]

> NOW - that all being said, I'm not going to make any judgment about this guy and his work at Tesla and what this means about that. There is far too much that goes into the production of a car to make any real judgment call about things to come -- Astons could have been beautifully engineered and then ruined with bad supplier decisions, that were outside this guy's control. Etc. etc.

One encouraging thing: with the Roadster, Tesla took a Lotus chassis and made something magnificent out of it with brand new drivetrain technology. They based a car on a Lotus, who hasn't made a reliable car... ever? (they're wonderful cars in their way, but sorry, it's true) From what you're saying, perhaps it's sort of similar to Aston.

If it's an ability to turn sketchy-but-brilliant British design into great cars that's needed, they seem to have it.

[stevenrace]

>Lotus, who hasn't made a reliable car... ever?

The US-spec Elise/Exiges were powered by a fairly mundane Toyota engine. Body panel costs aside, it's a cheap, reliable, unpractical, and great vehicle.

[calinet6]

> cheap, reliable, unpractical, and great vehicle.

Best description of a Lotus Elise ever. That car was designed purely and simply for driving enjoyment.

[justin66]

I've never doubted that the Toyota engine is reliable. If Lotus made a car with reliable electronics, that strikes me as revolutionary. :)