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Tesla opens its factory doors to prospective Model S customers

Tesla allowed customers who had deposits on the upcoming Tesla Model S sedan to take them on a test drive in a prototype and ask them for word-of-mouth support.

Tesla, the California-based manufacturer of the exotic Lotus-based Roadster, opened its doors yesterday evening to customers who have preordered Tesla's upcoming Model S sedan. They were given the opportunity to tour the factory in Fremont and a ride in a prototype of the Model S. The CEO of Tesla and co-founder of PayPal, Elon Musk, asked the customers for support and to spread the news about it.

The Tesla Model S will be the largest determining factor in the success of Tesla as a company, as it is expected to cost around $60,000 before federal tax credits and incentives. That, along with its four-door practicality, is supposed to broaden Tesla's reach out of the niche sports car market of selling the $110,000 two-seat Roadster. However, with the new Tesla Model S Sport that the company is talking about, the sedan's performance won't be far off from the Roadster's, with a projected 0-60 time of 4.5 seconds. The Model S will come with three battery and range options, from 160 miles, 230 miles, or 300 miles on a single charge.

Tesla, a company with 1,400 workers that can boast that it is a successful publicly-traded company since June of 2010, has several big-name investors including Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page as well as $465 million loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy in 2009. It has plans to unveil a Model X sport-utility vehicle prototype in December with plans for it to go into production by 2013.

Source: Automotive News

Comments

Ryan the Engineer (not verified)    October 2, 2011 - 7:38PM

TESLA TAKES GOVERNMENT TAX MONEY SAYING THEY WILL CREATE U.S. JOBS and then hires FOREIGNERS: : Look at the ads Tesla has placed on LInkedIn: "Senior Immigration Paralegal - Tesla Motors- Palo Alto, California (San Francisco Bay Area), etc..."

Elon Musk made a deal with Dianne Feinstein to take over the NUMMI plant so it would look like she saved jobs but, in fact, almost no NUMMI staff were hired and Tesla does not even know how to set-up the factory.

John Doerr & Steve Westly ran Steven Chu's nomination and forced the White House to appoint him and then forced Steven Chu to fund their company: Tesla Motors.

Tesla cooked the books to get DOE funding.

The CEO & senior staff lied to the City of San Jose about building their car factory there and those communications are actionable.

The CEO & senior staff lied to multiple other cities about building their car factory there and those communications are actionable. They always promise a city or country a factory or sales office and then pull out.

The CEO has been sued by his staff, his wife, his business partners and his suppliers for manipulation and unethical behavior.

The CEO paid GQ magazine to write a story about him to help him get dates. The CEO paid the marketing group for Iron Man to say that Iron Man was based on him. History has shown that megalomaniacs have destroyed every company they have run.

The CEO cheated on his wife with escorts while married. The values of the CEO are the values of the Company. Eolon Musk hires most of the escorts in Silicon Valley.

The car electromagnetic radiation fields from the battery pack cause cancer.

They bribed officials to get their federal loan and the funds expended by them to get that loan are being traced back to sources. The McKinsey guys at DOE are connected on paper to Tesla in extensive conflicts of interest.

He was $100,000.00 off, PER CAR, on the cost to build each car. The company has blown tens of millions of dollars on work it had to completely dump in the garbage and start over on.

The company has numerous consumer complaints on price changes, overheating of the battery and charging system and inability to get 220V without huge premiums for the setup.

Nobody is buying the cars anymore and there are hordes of competitors with better electric cars.

A Tesla Invest… (not verified)    October 4, 2011 - 4:56PM

In reply to by Ryan the Engineer (not verified)

Let me guess, you broke your piggy bank and shorted the stock, and now you're scared sh!tless that you are going to lose all of your money, so you go on internet forums and try to badmouth the company?