Venturi Delays Its Fetish

In the world of electric cars, punctuality is a foreign concept. Venturi, a Monaco-based electric car startup, has pushed back delivery of its unfortunately named Fetish. While many are reporting that this postponement is part of the company’s last-minute upgrades, we see this news as further proof that making electric vehicles is a lot more difficult than car makers anticipate.

Autoblog Green reports that the delay is due to the fact that Venturi has further souped up the engine and shaved 30 kilgrams (about 66 pounds) off the car’s weight. So now the car has an even more torque at an impressive 92 percent efficiency — that is, if you ever get one.

Greentech Media reported Venturi was going to deliver the first carbon fiber-bodied Fetishs way back in September. Then there was another production date reported of April 2008. And now, with it’s “new and improved” engine, you shouldn’t expect to see a production Fetish until at least June 2009.

It seems electric car startups chronically underestimate the time their technology takes to develop, and it makes us better understand why Chevy, a massive company with plenty of developmental resources, isn’t releasing its Volt until 2010. Meanwhile, Tesla’s transmission woes won’t be a thing of the past until they retrofit the first few production vehicles. The recent spate of lawsuits between Tesla and Fisker certainly won’t speed up the business of making electric cars.

So, while you’re waiting for your $465,000 Fetish we recommend you take your half a mil back to the Monaco baccarat tables.

Picture courtesy of Venturi.