Christopher Heiser, chief executive of Renovo Motors, said that Tesla may have started creating cars in Silicon Valley, but car technology is just starting in Silicon Valley.
"Tesla was a trailblazer," he told Press:Here, "and Silicon Valley is the right place to build car technology companies."
Heiser would know since his $529,000 Renovo sports coupe is now being built and will be delivered before the end of the year. He also acknowledges that Renovo learned from Tesla, both literally and figuratively.
Using senior executives from Tesla, along with his past as an automotive engineer, Heiser helped create the vehicle, an electric supercar merged with a Shelby Cobra "Daytona" coupe. "It was important to pick an American partner for the chassis," Heiser said. "We couldn't be happier."
Silicon Valley will continue to create car technology, he said, because the Valley is used to the "integration of software and hardware" and can create a product in a short amount of time. But he cautioned against expecting a budget variant. Instead, the supercar market affects the overall mainstream market by its innovation, technology and design -- which could make it more of a toy for the super-rich rather than a way to revolutionize automobiles.
"Our goal is to make the world's most exciting vehicles," Heiser said.
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