Tesla Motors, the nascent dot-car manufacturer that promised the world an electric sports car, announced last week that series production of the Tesla Roadster had begun at the Lotus plant in Hethel, England. The Roadster is powered by a 185 kilowatt (248 horsepower) three-phase, four-pole brushless electric motor and promises to be the only mass-production electric car offered for sale in America when it comes later this year.

Of course, “mass production” is relative — the current pace is about one car per week. And the entire 2008 production run is spoken for, with no delivery dates confirmed for 2009 cars. That said, if Tesla overcomes the many hurdles of bringing a high-tech, alt-energy, niche-market car to profitable production, it’ll certainly be remembered as one of the signature cars of the decade.

With two and a half years yet to go in the naughts, it might seem early to be declaring the candidates for such an honor, but there’s one more that will surely make the list — the Porsche Cayenne. The jellybean truck from Leipzig has transformed Porsche from a sports car manufacturer with one reliably selling model to a major player in Europe’s auto market.

Porsche chose wisely in greenlighting the once controversial Cayenne S.U.V.

The financial windfall of the Cayenne’s sales success is difficult to overstate; Porsche coffers are now deep enough that on March 3, the company announced a plan to spend about $20 billion to become the majority shareholder of Volkswagen, in part to protect its supply of VW-sourced Cayenne parts. A week later, as Wolfgang Porsche joined the VW advisory board, rumors of a takeover by Porsche ran so hot that the company was forced to release a statement saying that it is not, in fact, planning to increase its stake in Volkswagen to 75 percent.

Total assimilation will prove nearly impossible, as the German state of Lower Saxony owns about 20 percent of VW and holds veto rights over any moves that would affect the approximately 80,000 VW jobs in Lower Saxony. Still, it’s quite a turnaround from 10 years ago when the little carmaker from Gmund-by-way-of-Zuffenhausen was frequently mentioned as a potential takeover target. And with the weakening U.S. economy and strengthening euro, which reduces profit on Porsches sold outside of Europe, getting a piece of a bigger manufacturer is probably Porsche’s best hope for staving off a precipitous decline in profits.

The flip side of the Cayenne’s success (and omnipresence) could be diminished prestige of the Porsche brand, revealed in raging water-cooler debates among car enthusiasts over the last few months.

Since the release of the Nissan GT-R, which goes on sale in the United States later this year, each and every car magazine seems to have penned a Nissan GT-R vs. 911 Turbo story — a comparison Nissan has relentlessly promoted, going so far as to provide a 911 Turbo at the launch of the GT-R. “So,” the discussion has gone, “which is the more desirable car, the Porsche or the Nissan?”

It seems the answer depends mostly on which side of 1980 you were born. Those of us who are children of the ’70s remember the Porsche 959 with breathless reverence and still harbor nightmares of turbo-induced snap-oversteer. To us, the GT-R, which reels off 3.3-second 0-to-60 times, is an impressive car. But, it’s no 911. To those on the other side of the divide, the Porsche appears an expensive bauble, associated with a certain Mr. Seinfeld, Cayennes at the mall, and the coming four-door Panamera, while the GT-R is a modern supercar descended straight from a video game universe.

Is the Nissan GT-R more desirable than the Porsche 911 Turbo? That might depend on your age.

But regardless of whether the balance-sheet-busting sales of the Cayenne take Porsche to German car industry dominance, or the the image of Cayenne-clogged Petco parking lots does permanent damage to Porsche’s prestige, it’s unquestionable that Porsche’s Touareg-meets-Mr. Toad has altered the company’s course.

So which is the sports car of today and the future: the Porsche 911 Turbo, the Nissan GT-R, or the Tesla Roadster?

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