Filed under: EV/Plug-in, Zap, China
Zap just now looking for someone to engineer the Alias, hopes to start production Q2 '09
While one of our favorite automotive curmudgeons, the Great Farago seems to have no reluctance to call out the likes of General Motors for greenwashing and Tesla for supposedly being vaporware (BTW for vaporware, it's a blast to drive!), he has so far remained strangely silent on the subject of Zap! Perhaps it is an odd sense of decency. He seems to only be willing to pick targets that have a hope of actually fighting back and perhaps making a case for themselves. Perhaps he doesn't see Zap! as worthy of expending his words on. Maybe he is right. Even so I will proceed share a few words on Zap! in this space. Zap has issued a request for quotes from engineering and technology partners to help actually make the Alias electric trike a reality. After originally planning to launch the Alias this year, the company is just now looking for partners to make it happen by mid-2009. While the Alias was originally conceived by Zap with Lotus, it seems odd that they are now looking for new engineering partners. The Alias, and perhaps the Zap-X, are expected to someday be manufactured by a joint-venture company formed between Zap and China Youngman Automotive Group. One interesting note in Zap's press release is that the Alias, if it ever moves beyond the rendering stage, would be sold under a new brand for the JV company rather than as a Zap. Come on Robert, where are you when we really need you? Or are you just waiting until March 18th to pick a new target?
[Source: Zap]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ug 1:37PM (1/27/2008)
I guess it takes more than a copy of 3DStudioMax to make a car, huh?
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Domenick 2:36PM (1/27/2008)
From the Zap website regarding Zap and Lotus: "...The two companies carried out a feasibility study on next generation electric vehicle technologies and the Alias vehicle was announced...."
I'd like to see a copy of this study. And by copy, I don't mean a 3-D computer generated representational image, but an actual copy with like, paper and staples and stuff.
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Chris M 10:38PM (1/27/2008)
ZAP is a bit delusional if they think they can start the search for engineers now, hire them, do all the development and testing, get the production done and ready for sale in just 1 1/2 years. It is going to take twice as long as they expect, and by the time they get it ready it may be too late - the competition, having started much sooner, will dominate the market.
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PrettyGirlGoesGreen 7:22PM (1/30/2008)
Wow. Regardless of the application made to design the image for this new car.. it sure is futuristic looking! That's a car I'd definitely want to ride in or be seen driving in. Very cool.
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Alex Campbell 8:05PM (2/07/2008)
Detroit Electric Chairman Albert Lam says there will be two family sedans and an electric bus several vehicles, not just the Alias, by summer of 2009. What will the competitive market look like by then?
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