Sideview mirrors "create 3 percent to 6 percent of a typical vehicle's total aerodynamic drag," according to Green Car Reports.
Electric car maker Tesla (TSLA) wants to do something about it. Rather than spend hours in a wind tunnel refining the mirrors' curves and reducing drag, Tesla wants to eliminate sideview mirrors altogether and replace them with cameras wired to in-cabin screens.
Unfortunately, regulations mandate things like rearview and sideview mirrors.
In an interview with Alison van Diggelen of Fresh Dialogues, Tesla Model S Designer Franz von Holzhausen spoke of a "cumbersome amount of regulations that prevent or delay innovative car design," and speaking with "authorities" about changing regulations.
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Green Car Reports suggests that the regulations that would require modification are the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
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Here's our reporting on Tesla's second quarter earnings call from last week:
The EV pioneer's Q2 revenue of $405 million beat estimates by $22 million, and its Q2 EPS of $0.20 beat estimates by $0.37. Tesla sold 5,150 Model S vehicles in North America during Q2. The EV builder's surge in gross margin to 22 percent came as a surprise to the analyst contingent, as revenue for Q1 was $562 million at a 17 percent gross margin. (Here's the audio transcript and here is the investor letter. Here's a Tesla high-speed test drive review.)
Takeaways
- The company posted a net loss of $30.5 million
- There are over 13,000 Model S Sedans on the road in North America (all sales, so far, are in North America)
- Tesla opened 7 new retails stores in Q2 and will soon be opening a store in China.
- Shipments to Europe started this week
- Sales of zero-emission vehicle (ZEV) credits still contribute to revenue -- but promised Q4 margin of 25 percent does not include credits
- Tesla maintained its 2013 guidance of selling 21,000 electric vehicles this year. That has meant growing production to 500 cars per week
Last quarter Tesla produced 400 or more Model S vehicles per week for a total of 5,000 units in the quarter. “At this point, making 400 cars a week actually feels like a walk in the park, whereas it was a nightmare in Q4,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk told Bloomberg in July.
Tesla stock is up roughly 300 percent this year.
