Lotus Elise 2007 News

Toyota has bought a significant stake in Tesla, which plans to add a prestige family sedan soon to its Lotus Elise-based Roadster, in a deal which will also revive a dormant factory in the USA. The NUMMI factory in Fremont, California - its name stands for New United Motor Manufacturing, Incorporated - was originally set us as a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota. But, just like the shotgun marriage between Toyota and Holden in the 1980s in Australia, the deal fell apart and production at the factory ended this year. Now Toyota plans to assist Tesla to establish a giant new manufacturing operation at the NUMMI site as it taps into the American start-up company's expertise in electric-car technology.  It has bought a stake in Tesla costing more than $59 million and Toyota chief Akio Toyoda is bullish about the potential in the deal. "I’ve felt an infinite possibility about Tesla’s technology. Through this partnership, by working together with a venture business such as Tesla, Toyota would like to learn from the challenging spirit, quick decision-making, and flexibility that Tesla has," Toyoda says. "Decades ago, Toyota was also born as a venture business. By partnering with Tesla, my hope is that all Toyota employees will recall that ‘venture business spirit,’ and take on the challenges of the future." Tesla will build its upcoming Model S, although it is unlikely to approach the 500,000 cars-a-year production capacity at the factory.  The Model S was unveiled last year and has a target price in the USA of $49,900, a figure helped considerably by a government tax break, as well as a claimed range of 500 kilometres between re-charges. "The Tesla factory effectively leverages an ideal combination of hardcore Silicon Valley engineering talent, traditional automotive engineering talent and the proven Toyota production system," said Tesla CEO, Elon Musk.  "The new Tesla Factory will give us plenty of room to grow."  But Tesla is still in its infancy and has delivered less than 1000 of its Elise-based electric Roadster sports cars to date.

Hired straight from graduating by Toyota's Calty Design Research studios near Los Angeles, Ian Cartabiano's path was laid out early. His mother was a sculptor, his father an industrial designer and the family were car nuts.He toyed with the idea of becoming a film director, but the cars won out when Toyota signed him on in 1997. So now Cartabiano drives a Toyota-engined Lotus Elise and a bunch of Toyota cars he helps design.Calty senior executive Erwin Lui says the design studio is a “conduit for American tastes and the American market”.Toyota's sales volume, and direct involvement, in the US auto industry has grown considerably since the mid-1990s. Toyota in Japan recognises the worldwide influence of the Californian culture.This is a young, diverse and faddish place with a huge appetite for the latest in style and technology. Equally, California has long been a car place, a hot-rodders' and imports paradise.Among Calty's recent design includes; the wild Toyota FJ Cruiser from 2006 creating a modern spin on the original Landcruiser, then there's the latest Tundra which is a full-sized American pickup and finally the 2007 Kluger known as Highlander in the US.For Cartabiano, the Kluger did not come easy. “It was one of the hardest projects I've been involved with,” he says.“The Highlander (Kluger) is our most mainstream SUV, it's like the Camry of SUVs.”So Cartabiano's early grille for instance the strong horizontal bars, which was abandoned and deemed a little too tough.“This car had to look strong and tough but also intelligent,” he says. “It had to have an intelligent silhouette and be proud of what it is. The previous Kluger had a kind of waddly look and the wheels looked like they had been sucked in.”The new philosophy for Toyota design, still being analysed and understood, is “vibrant clarity”. Automotive design has become more a marketing tool in recent years, manufacturers chasing individual expressions to define the “face” of each car family, he says.Cartabiano gave the Kluger a new wheel focus, a stronger face with more style muscle to the bonnet and more shoulder to the rear. There is the hint of flare over the mudguards and both 17-inch or 19-inch wheels fill out the guards.There is a more athletic look to this next Kluger, without disguising the cabin length and the fact that this is a seven-seater SUV.“There had to be a balance between form and function,” Cartabiano says.He is happy with the production version although, while understanding the need to tone it down, he does miss that original design for the Kluger grille. The end result is a more sophisticated style than the original wagon, inside and out.The new Toyota Kluger is smarter all round, with some similarities to its little brother the RAV4 and Hyundai's Santa Fe.