I think you are wrong. Arnold was one of the first to endorse this car. He was also the single most prominent reason we see the Hummer on the road. They have 400 of them pre-sold and the majority of them are well-known people and people who currently own cars that go 200+ mph. As a in-the-city ride that looks great and skoots ass this car is perfect. And as time goes by the price will go down. From what my calculator says they have retain $40 million in pre-sales already. That ain't too bad especially when they have another guaranteed $40 million on delivery. Thats just for the 400 they have sold so far.
You're right about Arnold and the Humvee, he's essentially the reason we see Hummers on the road. I don't think those two situations are comparable though because electric vehicles appeal to a certain type of person and that person isn't the type of person that buys cars with sub-5 second 0-60 times. We are not ready for electric cars, there's a reason that all other electric cars have failed but hybrids are succeeding on a small basis.
BTW, do you have any idea how much R&D must have cost for that car? The revenue generated from those 400 cars won't even begin to cover R&D costs. I don't understand what you mean by $40 million in pre-sales and another $40 million on delivery, 400 * 100,000 = $40,000,000.
In order for this car to succeed it needs to be profitable and mechanically feasible, meaning it doesn't need to be recharged consistantly and has a full charge driving range to make the car more than just a fast golf cart. In the real world I don't think those two things will happen. On paper it sounds great, real world driving with people that aren't engineers or that don't have a stake in the vehicle succeeding is something completely different.
