Tesla - made by GM!

[scottfe]

I found it interesting and perhaps a bit ironic to discover that a number of Tesla parts are manufactured by GM! This assembly for the steering column shows the GM brand, as does some of the dashboard electronics, such as the turn signal lever. I suspect these are among those parts in common with the Lotus Elise.

A closer look.

 

[TEG]

The Lotus Esprit Fact File - Parts

...Originally, Lotus used nice, thick-rimmed steering wheels from Italian manufacturer Nardi for the Esprit. Then came the early nineties, and airbag (SIR) systems became mandatory in the USA. Being a small car company of limited resources made designing their own unit cost-prohibitive. They solved this problem by "borrowing" a unit from parent company, GM...

 

[tomsax]

Ford makes the trunk latches

I think it was DaveD that pointed out to me that the trunk latches have a Ford logo on them.

 

[DaveD]

I think it was DaveD that pointed out to me that the trunk latches have a Ford logo on them.

It was Carl Medlock that showed me that.

 

[Palpatine]

I think it was DaveD that pointed out to me that the trunk latches have a Ford logo on them.

 

[vfx]

Doesn't Ford make a latch that would not require two friggin' big handprints on the trunk?

:redface:

 

[ra-san]

The rear hatch on my FX45 is carbon fiber (not sure if they still are, but they were on the first models). It flexes a bit, but nothing like the roadster's (of course it is much heavier, even though it's relatively light). One of the things I always liked about it thought is that you just get it close, and it'll finish the job at latch itself evenly, automatically.
I don't know if they spent more weight on the auto-close/latching mechanism than they saved on the hatch but if some reliable (and mine has been), light system like this could be put on the roadster (in a future version - retrofit seems unlikely), it'd be ideal.

 

[SByer]

I like the roadster's dual latches - I don't ever feel like I have to slam it, an by using my palms instead of hand, I get much less oil/fingerprinty junk on it.

I'd rather have the very lightweight, and so self-opening trunk than something heavier that only needed one latch. Just my opinion ;-).

 

[Jeremy]

As you might imagine, the cost of the car would have been significantly higher if Tesla (and Lotus, for that matter) decided to design, manufacture, and test/license these sorts of parts. For pieces that are already perfectly well-suited to life on the Roadster, there was no real reason to go through that expense and possible red tape, etc, to design from scratch. There are certainly plenty of examples of this on the car and, in nearly all cases, there truly isn't even any potential for improvement through designing from scratch anyway...