ZAP Redesigns 2009 Xebra

Following up on the great interview with Gary Starr at ZAP, the company redesigned its popular Xebra sedan for the 2009 model season. 

 

"The new 2009 Xebra Hatchback is a 5-door hatchback with folding rear seats, more than doubling the size of the rear cargo area with 34 cubic feet of space. More head and leg room was added and the styling upgraded inside and out to improve aesthetics. The steel body is sleeker, stronger and more durable than the original 2006 fiberglass model."

 

Nice video of ZAP's product and upcoming line, including the new Xebra.

 

Yes these are much nicer!  We have actually already sold 2 in our store, both were presold so they didn't spend any time on the floor before we had to say goodbye.  But we did get a little time to play with them and they are overall a much better product.

The 2009 Xebra is definitely a bit more stylish than the older models.  Very cool that the back seat folds.  Has it always done that?

 

 

How are folks driving them in your neck of the woods, srj0385?  Are they around town cars?  In the country cars?

 

There actually used to be an NEV that lived in my neighborhood (I never could figure out what kind it was though) but I haven't seen it around for a while...

i have the 09 sedan (hatchback). it's great. looked at the older model (dealer still had one remaining) but elected to wait.

 

it's solid, good speed and distance and i use the "trunk" space often as it wasily holds 3 bags of groceries or other items.

 

buy it!

For the sedans, it is hard to say, we have only sold those two since I have been here, because production was stopped in order to develop this new model, we haven't been able to get that many.  Neither of these were sold locally, we actually had to deliver them out of state, so I haven't heard much from the owners.  The Zap truck however, surprisingly is going to retirees and farmers.  Definitely not the demographic we expected but people on a fixed income are more likely to buy them, especially if they don't have to commute to work.  Small town farmers are getting them to use around their property to help counter balance the high cost of gas for their tractors and big trucks too.  Other than that, we have been selling to campuses who use them for maintenance. 

 

It seems that the people who are most interested are those who have atypical driving habits.

Edited by srj0385 - Fri, 07 Nov 2008 20:29:41 GMT

That's cool - I'm glad to hear that the new Xebra is such an improvement.  I'm a big fan of hatchbacks - a great feature on the Prius.  Thanks for the info srj and jack!

I like the upgraded styling of the new Xebra... and I always thought their truck with the solar panel was cool.  I hope that Zap! has growing success!!!

I think ZAP! is a great company that is showing the rest of the auto industry that full electric viehicles are possilble here and now.

 

Here is a video of Tom Kelly from Davis Electric Cars talking about the ZAP and the Zenn.

 

http://endependence.info/research/videos-c-1-v-107.html

 

Endependence also has a recent Blog Post about the bait and switch the auto industry is playing when it says plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles depend on "breakthrough technology".

 

http://blog.endependence.info/

 

Endependence = energy independence that ends dependence on polluting fuels.

 

Join our movement.  Sign the Declaration of Endependence at

 

http://endependence.info/declaration/

 

 

That's where I got my first electric moped :-)

 Good job on improving the design, folding seats and all that but the dashboard looks terrible still! I'm talking about the gear, heater and fan button area. I swear, first time I sat in this car, I thought its from the 80s! And from the uploaded video I can see this will not be changed in the 2009 design either. I mean: its a 100% electric car, still a car of the future. I should not feel like I'm about to travel back in time when I sit in there! 

 News about unsold inventories piling up and the bailout news is sure disturbing and confusing to me!  Xebra seems to be following the Chrysler PT model- a 4 door model, and ONLY a 4 door. Hopefully, Zap! will return to Santa Cruz, CA.  I need slightly longer doors: the overall hatchback design is very useful to me but not as a 4 door.  Very pleasing design, but does someone know if a 2 or 3 door three-wheel EV is planned?

The Alias will be a 2-door 3-wheeler.

Sadly, the Alias probably won't have a hatchback, and I am certainly not able to lift my wheelchair up on the roof!  The CityEL I drive now is designed perfectly- open the canopy, hang on to the roll bar with one hand, and swing the wheelchair onto the deck with the other. 

 

But it is 16 years old- can't get parts/service easy if at all.  A Zap! sedan with "suicide" doors would be great!

I'm pretty sure the Aptera has a rear hatch, but I don't know about space for a wheelchair...

This article was in SF Chron today (1/23): 

 

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/23/BU1J15ERJS.DTL

 

but the comments were quite negative.  Rather sad; people depend on Wired, the Obvio, and their mind is made up.

Link didn't work, so here are the comments:

 

Yeah that kind of attitude is pretty annoying.  People read one article and think they know everything there is to know about a subject.

 

I added my own brief comment.

Here's and interesting thought, none of those people own ZAP products, every product we sold last year, was given positive feedback.  We sent customer surveys and have not received a single one that was negative. Even people that had to bring their vehicles back for repairs still showed satisfaction with them, newer companies have issues, that is a given. The products speak, not the third party opinions.

Ditto!  Thanks Dana- great to see the whole picture!

 

Very good point, srj.  Again these are just people whose entire opinion of ZAP is based on the single WIRED article.  The thing is it was a thorough article, but only talked about ZAP's problems and setbacks.  It barely touched on their successes and product line, so it gave people a very unbalanced view of the company.

Apparently ZAP is doing their own cash for clunkers incentives at their Santa Rosa Dealership called Voltage Vehicles.  They are giving up to $3300 on trade-in of gas vehicles and that plus the 10% tax credit is the same as the government incentive.  It says participating dealerships only and my dealership has not heard anything from the manufacturer in terms of reimbursement for the trade ins, so I'm not sure how many are participating.

So if you live in CA and have been wanting a sedan, you might stop by there, that is a pretty good deal, you would be paying around $9000 for one!

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/entertainment/cash-clunkers-available-zap-electric-car/

 This is an old thread; but just noticing Xebras vanishing here concerns me; and not having an electric car or truly fuel saving replacement (50+ miles per gallon); a 3 or 4 wheel 'anything' is worrisome.

Cash for Clunkers is very questionable to me.  I cannot put my finger on it, but it seems that a backlash might happen.  Nice time to sit on my hands!  I would like an EMC3 but I am way outnumbered by huge vehicles that are too old for C4K or people just do not want a new car.

 Cash for Clunkers ends this Monday.  "Missed it by that much".  Is any news out about a redesigned Xebra for 2010?  Or Alius? or Triac? or Aptera? 3-wheel anything?

My Triac should be delivered in about 3-4 weeks. They arived in California last Friday, and are having the electronics installed