You Can’t Sell a Car That Looks Like Crap 178
be better off with a single speed vehicle where we put
more focus on increased torque and power out of the
motor, rather than relying on this old-world solution of
complicated gearboxes and moving mechanical parts.”^199
To make sure they got a working transmission they
contacted two companies. If both designs worked well, they
would pick the lower cost option199,213In September 2008,
Tesla chose the company BorgWarner to manufacture a
single-speed transmission.
Coloring was easier when Henry Ford made cars. He
told his customers they could choose whatever color they
wanted as long as they chose black. Why black? Black was
the color that dried the fastest. But the Roadster came in
twelve colors and each color needed a special name. “Oh
boy, the naming took some time,” a Tesla employee said.
“After several PR and design people took a run at it, we held
a competition amongst the employees. We were running
out of time. Three Tesla Motors executives were dragged
into a conference room and were not allowed out until
each color had an agreed upon name.” So the Roadster got
colors like Electric Blue or Sterling Silver. It turned out
that Radiant Red was the most popular color among the
customers.^270
The Roadster became more and more expensive and it
took longer and longer to get it into production. “I always
argued that we would sell exactly as many cars whether the
door latches were push-button or electronic, whether the
body panels were carbon fiber or fiberglass. All the nicer,
cooler, faster stuff increased risk,” Eberhard said. But Elon