Quote:
Originally Posted by tonybelding
The Karma will be a plug-in hybrid. The Model S, we now know, will only be available as a purely electric car. So. . . Even though they will be competing, it seems like the distinctions between them should be pretty clear.
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True, it is not like anyone will confuse the 2 cars. And in a healthy market, they probably wouldn't be considered even in the same category.
But since the category of plug-in EV is so very small, they will definitely be compared to each other. I can't imagine someone in the market for one not at least glancing at the other.
It is something the Roadster has had the luxury of not having. If you want a plug-in car that does highway speeds, has passed NTSB standards and doesn't look terrible - you have a choice of 1. So people who are interested in plug-in cars who might never be interested in a super-high-end sports car are interested in Tesla. If the Roadster were more delayed and the Volt quicker to market, they would probably be compared against each other, as ludicrous as that would seem if they both were standard ICE cars. The Model S and the Karma are much closer to each others target market than that.