Detroit Electric Rides Again
Detroit Electric is a startup electric car maker that revives the brand of another startup electric car maker by the name of Detroit Electric. As chronicled by Ronnie Schreiber, Detroit Electric cars were produced by the Anderson Carriage company from 1907 to 1939. They sold thousands of them until they were displaced by a better idea, the internal combustion engine. Yesterday, the new Detroit Electric unveiled its first model, a $135,000, battery-powered sports car.
As reported by Reuters, the Detroit Electric SP:01 is “the world’s fastest pure-electric sports car,” with a range of “just under 190 miles” between charges.
The car will be built in the Detroit area at a dedicated plant with an annual capacity of 2,500, the company told Reuters.
According to the report, “the SP:01 appears to borrow heavily from the British-built Lotus Elise — no surprise considering a number of Detroit Electric executives previously worked for various affiliates of Lotus Cars.”
There is another Lotus connection: The brand was revived in 2007 as a joint venture between China’s Youngman and California’s Zap. Youngman also is the Chinese joint venture partner of Lotus, a marriage that produced bastard children, some of them depicted above. Youngman achieved notoriety as an incessant bidder for Saab, a courtship that ended in failure.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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So Detroit Electric is building a Tesla Roadster in Detroit??? Hopefully they don't get the Fisker treatment - instead of A123 the battery provider going bankrupt, they run at least a moderate risk that their chassis provider Lotus, will.
"Youngman achieved notoriety as an incessant bidder for Saab, a courtship that ended in failure." I knew there was something fishy here. Detroit Electric is just an elaborate bailout plan for Lotus.