[emh]

We have obtained exclusive information about Franz von Holzhausen's next career move. On Thursday of last week, von Holzhausen resigned from Mazda, where he was Director of Design at the R&D Design Center in Irvine CA, to become the Design Director at Tesla Motors.

von Holzhausen's spearheaded the design of the Nagare and Furai concept cars and played an integral role in the creation of the Ryuga, Hakaze and Taiki. Early in his career at Mazda, he earned recognition for his work on the Kabura concept.

He has also served as Design Manager at General Motors where he was responsible for designing and managing the concept and production design process for the Pontiac Solstice, Saturn Sky, Chevy SS, and various other GM programs.

Link to article

 

[BigAls87Z28]

I knew it!! This guy doesnt like to stand still!! He jumped from somewhere before GM.
He is one of the 4022048848843 designers that worked on the Solstice.
I think he was on the Kappa team..but had more ties in with the Sky, and not so much with the Solstice.

 

[johnstarnes]

I consider him to be an utterly brilliant designer...the whole Nagare series of concepts is breathtakingly fresh and creative. Will be fun to see what he dreams up for Tesla!

 

[Ronald McChevy]

so I guess they won't be retrofitting Lotuses in the next generation? if that was the plan they wouldn't really need a high profile designer.

 

[ChevroletRevived]

Wow, big catch for Tesla! Way to go, they've been scoring some successes lately and getting some big names on board. I wish them the best!

 

[genjy]

so I guess they won't be retrofitting Lotuses in the next generation? if that was the plan they wouldn't really need a high profile designer.

Someone still has to design the car's exterior and interior even if its has a Lotus chassis.

 

[slowinthefastlane]

so I guess they won't be retrofitting Lotuses in the next generation? if that was the plan they wouldn't really need a high profile designer.

Actually, it's rumored that Whitestar team is planning on using a modified Ford/Mazda CD3 platform (Fusion, Mazda6). So, it makes sense to grab someone from Mazda - they're probably used to working with it already.

 

[CaptainDan]

Probably a good idea for Tesla. They have a totally different drive system, but if you wrap it in somebody else's body, you get a bit of a "kit car" reputation. Tesla needs a "look" that no one else has, to go with their "no one else has" powertrain.

 

[Saturn69]

so I guess they won't be retrofitting Lotuses in the next generation? if that was the plan they wouldn't really need a high profile designer.

The Tesla Roadster shares no exterior body panels with the Lotus Elise. Actually, less than 10% of the Roadster is the same as an Elise, they share a windshield, air bags, tires, some dashboard parts, and suspension components. The Tesla also has a carbon fiber skin.

 

[2000GTPBROTHER]

I knew it!! This guy doesnt like to stand still!! He jumped from somewhere before GM.
He is one of the 4022048848843 designers that worked on the Solstice.
I think he was on the Kappa team..but had more ties in with the Sky, and not so much with the Solstice.

It was his initial drawing of the concept Solstice coupe that the convertible came from and he was design mamager on the concept project.

 

[johnstarnes]

I just hope that Mazda enacts across their whole product line his design influence even with him gone. I love all the concepts he penned and think the Kabura would make for a remarkable rebirth of the RX-7. I have loved futurism since I was 10 in 1963 and so am enamored with his entire Nagare line of concepts.

 

[usa1]

Tesla reminds me a dot-com company before the bust. They throw money around and make big promises and ultimately don't have a sound business.

Mark

 

[Saturn69]

Tesla reminds me a dot-com company before the bust. They throw money around and make big promises and ultimately don't have a sound business.

Mark

This is the first electric car that could actually replace someone's ICE car available for sale, not lease, to the public in over 80 years. Hiccups are a given. They're sold out of the 2008's and 2009's are going fast so the market exists. It can't be easy to bring this to market with all the nay-sayers nipping at Tesla's heels at every single step.

 

[slowinthefastlane]

This is the first electric car that could actually replace someone's ICE car available for sale, not lease, to the public in over 80 years. Hiccups are a given. They're sold out of the 2008's and 2009's are going fast so the market exists. It can't be easy to bring this to market with all the nay-sayers nipping at Tesla's heels at every single step.

The general public could buy a Toyota RAV4 EV in 2002. They were available for sale and for lease. It had a range of 100 to 120 and would seat 4, making them a much more viable replacement for an ICE car than either the Tesla or the EV1. Of course, there were only 300 or so of them actually sold to the general public.

 

[Saturn69]

The general public could buy a Toyota RAV4 EV in 2002. They were available for sale and for lease. It had a range of 100 to 120 and would seat 4, making them a much more viable replacement for an ICE car than either the Tesla or the EV1. Of course, there were only 300 or so of them actually sold to the general public.

328, actually. I forgot about the RAV4....but really, that's hardly worth mentioning. I'd take one, though. There are no self-imposed restrictions on the Tesla and they'll make as many as they have buyers, whereas Toyota merely caved to public pressure (which GM should have done, as well).

"Toyota discontinued the RAV4 EV program one day after the passing of new air-quality requirements by CARB. CARB eliminated most of the Zero Emissions Vehicle requirement, substituting a greater number of partial zero-emissions vehicles (PZEVs) to meet the requirement. A Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV) category was also added. This program requirement was designed to obtain equivalent emissions reductions by substituting less expensive, more general purpose vehicles." - But remember, GM killed the electric car.

 

[nota]

Introduced for the 1959 model year, the Henney Kilowatt was the world's first modern (transistor-regulated) electric car.

.. The 1960 Kilowatt boasted a top speed of nearly 60 mph (97 km/h) with a range of over 60 miles (97 kilometres) on a single charge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henney_Kilowatt

 

[ColoradoZQ8]

Tesla reminds me a dot-com company before the bust. They throw money around and make big promises and ultimately don't have a sound business.

Mark

Yeah, just like that little know company called Apple before they introduced that gimmick called the Apple II.

Whatever happened to them, anyways?

I bet they went out of business years ago because of their lack of a sound business model.

 

[slowinthefastlane]

Yeah, just like that little know company called Apple before they introduced that gimmick called the Apple II.

Whatever happened to them, anyways?

I bet they went out of business years ago because of their lack of a sound business model.

Except that when Apple had it's IPO in 1984, the company was already profitable. So, yes - they had a sound business model. Back then, profitability for a few quarters in a row was a requirement for a successful IPO. It was difficult to find a bank that would underwrite the IPO of a company that was losing money. Tesla likely won't be profitable anytime soon. In the .com fashion of the late 1990's, they will likely do an IPO without showing a single quarter of profit.

As I said in the other Tesla thread, only time will tell if Tesla has enough funding to survive. They're only building about 1,800 cars for the 2008-2009 model years. Even at $100k a pop, that's only $180M in revenue - with a large chunk of that going to Lotus and their other suppliers. They're also planning on building and licensing their battery pack technologies to other non-automotive companies, which may net them a bit more revenue. However, as it stands now, they've only managed to snag $146M of venture funding - a large chunk of which has been kicked in by their founder. $146M is not a lot of money to run an auto company on.

If they can hold on and have a decent IPO, then Tesla has a fighting chance. That's a big "if", though.

 

[redimpss5]

So far, I see Telsa the same way I saw the Sparrow compact car thing and the Indian motorcycle company. They made those when people had jobs and money. We will see.