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The first Tesla was the Tesla Roadster. It was not a kit car, but the body/chassis was made by Lotus and the drivetrain by Tesla. This isn’t uncommon at all. T
by dghlsakjg 3y ago
The first Tesla was the Tesla Roadster. It was not a kit car, but the body/chassis was made by Lotus and the drivetrain by Tesla.
This isn’t uncommon at all. Toyota has two models currently that have drivetrains made by BMW and Subaru. Subaru sells the car under their own brand as well.
For limited run cars it is very common for the coach work to be done by a completely different company than the mechanicals
- numpad0 3y agoToyota doesn't have models that have drivetrains made by BMW and Subaru, they have complete cars OEM manufactured by BMW and Subaru(GR86, Supra, bZ4X, etc). Installing just the drivetrain is not common at all.
- dghlsakjg 3y agoFair enough. The Supra is at least an entirely different car than the Z4. For a better example look at Ram’s trucks that you can order with a Cummins engine and Allison transmission. Or look at commercial trucks where it is still very much the norm to have the chassis and driveline be completely different companies. Or look at Pagani who use engines from AMG and Xtrac transmissions for something closer to Tesla’s situation. Having a drivetrain sourced from outside the frame/body manufacturer isn’t common at all, but it is common enough that calling the Elise/Tesla a “kit car” or somehow unheard of is inaccurate.