It's no secret that The Car Blog is constantly gaining more and more ground on the Internet, and we've decided to introduce annual awards this year. We've been going back and forth with ideas for Best DIY Project, Worst Performer of the Year, and this award, the Best New Automaker of the Year. We were going back and forth mainly between Devon, Artega, Zenovo, Fisker, and our winner, Tesla. We had many reasons to pick Tesla as our winner. First of all, Devon, Artega, and Zenovo haven't made any production cars yet and Devon is based off of Dodge Viper components. This left Fisker and Tesla. We chose Tesla because they have had major sales success and made many gains in technology. Though the Fisker may look better in your opinion, the Tesla has made more strides and good sales, meaning they have a constant flow of money. For these and many more reasons, Tesla is our award winner this year.
This award isn't just about the cars, it's about the company also, so we will start our honors there. Tesla Motors was founded by the inventor of PayPal, a Silicon Valley programmer named Elon Musk. He quickly and efficiently developed the Roadster using knowledge he learned at Pinnacle Research and secured a $50 Million partnership with Daimler. Another honorable mention is Tesla's Chief Technical Officer, JB Straubel. With two degrees from Stanford, this Wisconsin native is a mechanical genius specializing in electric propulsion. He is one of the major brains behind the company's vehicles and the co-founder.
Now to the part that people care about: The cars. With one successfully-launched model and another on the way, Tesla has had no minor success for a new company in engineering and producing vehicles. The technology packed into these cars is frankly amazing. Tesla uses innovative packaging and new materials to make a lightweight, fast electric production vehicle that provides a driving experience unlike any other automobile on the market today. And the company isn't stopping at the Roadster. On the way in early 2011 is the Model S, and all-electric sedan with a 300-mile range (take that, Volt!) and 5.6-second acceleration to 60. And with the sales success of the Roadster, Tesla can pack even more advanced technology into this new model. Things are looking up for Tesla, and hopefully they will live up to this honor.
