Tango EVs being danced out the door by George Clooney's good looks
Why would Google co-founder Sergey Brin order three electric Tango vehicles from a Spokane, Washington company? Because of star power. Actor George Clooney put the maker of the Tango, Commuter Cars Corp., on the map last year when he bought the first of the single-seat electric vehicles. Following Clooney's public lead, Brin and others have been heavy into electric cars recently. Brin is invested in Tesla as well as a lithium-ion battery pack being developed by Commuter Cars. Exactly how much money Brin is putting into the project is not public information, but he did order three Tangos (all the luxury T6000 model, which cost $148,000 each).
Commuter Cars currently has orders for over 100 Tangos, and hopes to start delivering them in the next few months. Hand making cars is slow going, though. Once the initial round of limited production cars are out the door, and technological and safety issues are taken care of, a production base model that costs less than $20,000 should be available.
[Source: Spokane Journal via Ecorazzi]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tony Belding 11:54AM (10/19/2006)
I have such mixed feelings about the Tango. It's a clever design and apparently it's a strong performing, sporty car. I suspect it's fundamentally a good product and would be fun to own and drive.
However, it looks. . . kind of goofy. I think I could possibly get over that. There are a lot of people who might not be able to.
The other thing I have trouble getting past is the seemingly half-baked nature of Commuter Cars as a car company. They are hand-building cars while they try to scratch up the funds for assembly-line production. They are selling the cars as kits to sidestep the need for crash testing and other regulations. It doesn't inspire confidence in their business -- although I certainly wish them success and hope they can hit the big time. They just don't quite seem to be there yet, in comparison with. . . Tesla Motors, for example.
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Andy 7:06PM (10/20/2006)
Sure there are people who might not get over its looks. But why is it reasonable to expect all people to like a single car? Certainly this is not demanded of any other car on the market. Also consider how many cars have existed with this profile? None? So this is literally the industry's iteration #1 in body design evolution. Sport sedans like the Tesla have evolved over a century, and even the Tesla body itself was designed largely by Lotus.
You'll get over the Tango's looks in a hurry once you discover where you can park and drive it. Also, from the inside, it's quite spacious with a fantastic panoramic view since you are at all edges of the car.
As far as being a half baked company, it isn't like they are fly by night. It's simply the fact that you are comparing a company like Tesla with over $40 million in funding to Commuter Cars which is basically funded out of pocket until it gets backed. It's a pretty amazing machine when you consider that.
The production model Tango will be crash tested and air bagged and everything else, but it simply isn't possible to afford that for one-off vehicles. Commuter Cars can only be "fully baked" once some capitalist pays for the oven.
They do, btw, have investors who are ready to jump in if the demand appears. You can put down a fully refundable deposit right now on the production model. That's what they are waiting for.
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