| | | Interesting article about the Celestiq smart roof.
First. If you were wondering how the Corvette ended up with a smart glass roof, read below.
Remember Tony Roma who answered Jay Leno's questions about the Celestiq?
Although Tesla contests the claim, GM says this roof is the largest single piece of automotive glass on any production car. Because it’s uniquely huge and uses fancy Smart Glass nanotechnology for its tinting, it’s not an easy part to source. Celestiq chief engineer and recently appointed Corvette chief engineer Tony Roma explains the process in a recent interview with Top Gear around the 18-minute mark in the video below.
“We had to find a furnace large enough in the world, and there’s one furnace in the world that can bend automotive glass to get the shape of the roof we want, and it’s in Peru,” Roma explained. “The glass is made in Belgium, it’s laminated and made as flat sheet stock in Belgium, sent to Peru, molded into this shape, and then sent up to us [in Michigan].”
That means that the roof of a Cadillac Celestiq travels approximately 10,000 miles from the genesis of its production until it’s installed on a car. That’s quite a long, global journey for what is ostensibly a sunroof, normally a pretty simple part to source.
Peru means AGP. Same supplier for Tesla. Is Tesla pissed that it doesn't have the largest single piece of automotive glass? Do they think such a large piece of glass with heat blocking would be a plus for the driver sitting under said large piece of glass?
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