graham

I think (in retrospect) it ends up being a mistake for Tesla to have used Barney Hatt to design the exterior of the Tesla. While the design is a fine one, it looks too much like the rest of the Lotus fleet and Tesla constantly must battle the "Tesla is just an electric Elise" meme.

Just because it shares an interior with the Elise doesn't mean the exterior has to look so much like it (and the Europa, and the Evora). If the Tesla exterior looked more like an Italian or German car (for instance) they would get fewer comparisons of "For that money you can buy 2.5 Elises" or whatever.

JRP3

I don't think the comparison is holding back sales. How many people are saying "I would have bought a Tesla but it looks too much like a Lotus"?

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TEG

Bite your tongue!

I think Tesla jumped right into the limelight in large part because the Roadster looks so good. Many think it was a big improvement over the Elise. Of course, with any design, if you look at it for a number of years it starts to seem less fresh. It is not too surprising that the Evora and Europa catch people's eyes as they are the next new thing. Tesla could have ended up with any number of "near miss" designs, but I think Barney did a great job at getting them something with some uniqueness, a lot of class, and appeal.

Now, Tesla has a world class designer on their team. Assuming success of Model S, I imagine they could freshen up the Roadster with a new look to fit their updated design sensibilities.

graham

Well, no one says that exactly. But many reviewers have compared the Roadster with the Elise - and they all negatively bring up the large price differential between those cars. Often never bringing up the comparison of price against a Porsche or Ferrari which is where the Roadster is more aligned from a performance point of view.

The main reason for the Elise comparison is because of its looks. If they made the car look like a Yugo or a Lamborghini chances are they would be frequently compared to a Yugo or a Lamborghini (respectively) instead of an Elise.

graham

Oh I completely agree that the Roadster needed a good looking design - and that it is a good looking design. But if it had the same price/performance but ended up looking similar to the Lightning or the Fetish (or an Aston Martin, or a Porsche, or a Zonda) they would have no fewer buyers. They needed a very good looking design (which they got). But having one that looks so similar to the Elise gets them a lot of Elise comparisons which always bring up the difference in price. Way more than even Exige comparisons (which is closer to from a performance/price POV and also a Lotus car).

TEG

Well I do see your point, but I think the Elise tie in was really the only choice for a number of other reasons including:

#1: The lightest chassis (by far) - critical considering battery weight.
#2: A small volume manufacturer willing to entertain such an unlikely idea.
(Remember, when Tesla started the idea of a new sports EV was implausible)

Personally I had hoped the Roadster would have trended towards Elise price point not going up in price over time. If it weren't for all the upgrades (including carbon fiber body) it might have stood a chance at being closer in price to a Supercharged Elise.

I guess if the Elise comparison bothers someone too much they could wait for the eRuf.

graham

I agree, TEG - The chassis and the Lotus manufacturing were totally the way to go for the Roadster. No arguments.

My point was specifically using the Lotus designer for the exterior (and him subsequently making the exterior looking a lot like the Elise and his other Lotus cars) means lots of people take the Roadster for "just an Elise conversion". They could have had the same chassis, the same manufacturing but a different (but equally great) designer for the CF body panels and they would have avoided the "Roadster is just an Elise with batteries and costs twice as much..." negative reviews.

Admittedly it is possible (even likely) that as a startup, Barney Hatt was the only good designer available to them.

And you are right, it is a great design. Perhaps I was overstating it as a being a mistake to use him... it just is annoying hearing all the "It is only an Elise" reviews, when it isn't really an Elise-class car.

malcolm

Whatever design route was/is chosen there will always be those who want to find fault. I'm sure the same will happen with Model S - we'll get the "It looks like an electric _______ and costs X times as much" comments.

The whole point with car design in general, and sports car design in particular, is stick with what you know. What would be the point of involving Lotus only to get them to design something that looks like a mazda - or some other two-seater?

I can't look at the EV1 without thinking of Citroen. Same with the Honda Insight. So what if the Roadster reminds us of the Elise? In the wacky world of car styling it could have been much, much worse. Don't forget that at the time the belief amongst the enthusiasts and the few pioneering auto-makers was that BEVs must announce their "difference" to the world in a clear visual manner.

Thank God Martin and Marc resisted that!

I believe Barney Hatt was only one of the designers involved. There was a sort of competition, steered from the design brief drawn up by Bill Moggridge and Martin. Tesla Motors - think Barney's designs won the vote and rightly so. It's a classic sports car design and one of the best looking Loti ever.

When I'm old and grey-er, the car will fully deserve to be the highlight of many an auto-museum BEV display.

Stuff the critics. The car's a landmark.

domenick

I can think of three others of the top of my head.

Joseph

The only other one I can think of is with ZAP, but that's a fake.

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