Tesla said Chris is a world-class leader and automotive engineer who established Aston Martin’s Vehicle Engineering team from the ground up and used his innovative approach as Chief Engineer for Aston Martin’s One-77 supercar.

The One-77 is best known for its advanced structural design combined with cutting edge active suspension and aerodynamics. These combined to make it one of the fastest cars in the world.

Chris brings more than 25 years of automotive engineering experience to Tesla.

Chris joined Aston Martin in 1997 where he brought the Vehicle Engineering function in-house, establishing vehicle dynamics, NVH and durability and later whole vehicle architecture and vehicle packaging, as well as thermal management, aerodynamics and full vehicle test.

Chris’s team was the group responsible for the architecture of the VH platform cars including DB9 and V12 Vantage.

Prior to Aston Martin, Chris spent 10 years at Land Rover where he began as a college intern and rose to the role of principle engineer in Vehicle Dynamics.

“Tesla is a hardcore technology company, which means that anyone leading a team of engineers must be an outstanding engineer themself, as well as a good leader,” said Elon Musk, Tesla co-founder and CEO. “Chris demonstrated exactly that in his prior role at Aston Martin, creating in the One-77 what was arguably their best car ever.”

Chris attended Hatfield Polytechnic north of London earning a Mechanical and Automotive Engineering degree. He later earned a master’s degree in Automotive Technology Management from Cranfield University.

“I look forward to driving new standards for vehicle engineering innovation in the Model S, Model X and future vehicle lines,” Porritt said. “This is an incredible opportunity to bring technologies normally reserved for supercars to the high volume market.”

The post Tesla Hires Aston Martin’s Chief Engineer of Vehicle Engineering appeared first on HybridCars.com.

Tesla said this makes it the highest resale value of any premium sedan brand made in volume (excludes rare, low volume or limited edition vehicles).

Buying a Model S through the Tesla financing offering now comes with a guarantee that the resale value will be higher than that of BMW, Audi, Mercedes, Lexus or Jaguar.

Tesla also said that to protect people that have already purchased a Model S via this program, the guarantee will extend retroactively to anyone that made use of Tesla financing, created in partnership with US Bank and Wells Fargo, from when it was first announced on April 2, 2013.

As with the prior resale guarantee, this higher number is also backed personally by Tesla CEO Elon Musk to give owners complete peace of mind about the long term value of the product.

“We appreciate the feedback from a number of journalists and customers that the first version of our financing product wasn’t quite right,” said Tesla Co-founder & CEO Elon Musk. “They were right, so we are fixing it and, moreover, upping the ante by providing the best resale value guarantee in the automotive industry. The Model S is rated by Motor Trend, Automobile Magazine and many others as the best car of 2013, so it should naturally therefore have the highest resale value.”

Tesla’s financing partners have also agreed to provide longer term loans that reduce the monthly payment considerably.

Accordingly, those who buy the Model S electric car for personal use will now pay a monthly rate of $580 taking only gasoline savings into account.

When purchased via a business, assuming 70 percent of miles are for business use, the depreciation benefit further reduces the effective monthly cost of owning a Model S down to $315.

The post Tesla’s Model S Resale Value Raised; Lower Monthly Payments appeared first on HybridCars.com.

The cars are only similar; the Leaf is all-electric and the Volt is “extended-range electric,” but we’re keeping the informal progress report going, even though GM has said it is not in a sales “race” against the Leaf.

Nissan is now assembling its Leafs in Tennessee and slashed its prices for this year, enabling the value proposition to look far better to alternative energy car consumers.

As such, April was its second-best month to date and this follows its best-yet sales performance that it achieved the month prior in March.

The Volt’s also-ran performance did not match its March sales of 1,478 units and fell short of numbers achieved last year which have seen double or nearly double its latest numbers.

2013 Chevrolet Volt.

Presently it appears the spotlight is on Nissan.

Year to date, Nissan noted Leaf sales are up 160.4 percent compared to the same period in 2012.

That said, the Volt still is edging out the Leaf with 5,550 units sold January through April, compared to the Leaf’s 5,476. But the Leaf struggled in January with only 650 units sold compared to the Chevy’s 1,140. In February also, Nissan delivered just 653 units compared to the Volt’s 1,626.

So the Volt did better earlier this year, but Nissan had said the pipeline was constrained due to the switchover in production from Japan to the U.S.

It would appear Nissan’s assertion is correct, and it may well be taking away limited market share from the Volt due to lower-cost leases, and a lower selling price as well.

As a reminder, the Volt is only a part-time EV with an EPA-rated electric range of 38 miles, after which it has a decided advantage over the Leaf of relying on its second powertrain and running its generator indefinitely with fill ups from the gas station.

The Leaf’s 2013 EPA numbers are not out yet, but its electric range can exceed 80 miles which studies show is more than enough for the average American’s daily driving needs, but it’s incapable of long-range driving without charging stations accessible, and extended layover time.

Nissan has aggressively established itself to eventually meet sales goals set by Renault-Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn for U.S. and global electric vehicles. GM also says it intends to be competitive, but this month its just-over 1,300 sales for the Volt are a hiccup in the big picture for the company now celebrating its best U.S. April sales in five years of 237,646 total vehicles.

It could also be Volt sales are tapering off, as buyers await release of the 2014 model year in a couple months.

The dark horse – Tesla Model S.

Meanwhile, we await to see what that also-aspirational electric car maker Tesla did, and we expect it will have topped both of these ostensibly mass-market cars for number of units sold from January to present.

As of March, Tesla sold 4,750 Model S units this year, and if it sells around 2,000 more or less in April, that will let it keep its place as plug-in volume leader.

Tesla has been coming on strong and our story anticipating its ascendancy in March and a subsequent recognition noting this phenomenon early this month eventually was picked up and repackaged into a new story by major media in recent days noting the Model S was outselling the Volt and Leaf.

Helping matters for the more-expensive but compelling Tesla Model S is a back-log of customer orders meaning it can deliver as many cars as it can produce at this juncture.

We’ll have more for you along with our monthly Dashboard as soon as possible.

The post Nissan April Leaf Sales Its Second-Best; Volt Trailing Behind appeared first on HybridCars.com.

Should Model S customers need servicing for any issue, the $600 per year package entitles them to have as close to an “invisible” service experience as possible, Tesla says.

The company will valet a premo Model S or Roadster – to customers – regardless what level and options of Model S they may have.

Saying that “the world’s best” cars ought to get “the world’s best service and warranty program,” CEO Elon Musk laid out points regarding the plan.

The company is building a small fleet of 85-kwh Model S Performance loaners and will also make available in most locations Roadster loaners, and other provisions are included.

And, if while they are at it customers decide they like the Model S loaner better, they can just trade their existing Model S in at a pro-rated difference.

“The loaners will be available for immediate purchase at a price that is lower by 1 percent per month of age and $1 per mile,” said Tesla today in a follow-up blog post. “If you like the service loaner more than your other car, you can just keep it. This ensures that the service fleet is constantly refreshed and gives customers the best optionality.”

As time goes on, Musk said Tesla expects cars it takes in on trade will add to a growing inventory of used Teslas for sale as is the case already for pre-owned Roadsters the company offers.

Of course, if customers merely want to get their existing car back, no problem. The idea is not being portrayed as a means to upsell, in fact Musk said something that flies radically in the face of traditional dealership service models.

“What I’ve told the Tesla Service Division is their job is never to make a profit,” Musk said.

Investors may get “mad” hearing this, Musk said, but the service model he says Tesla is aiming for should be run to the “zero profit point.”

Musk contends service is best if it is painless as possible, and he wants to “minimize not maximize” the cost of any service.

This said, the all-electric cars do not need customary servicing like gas or diesel vehicles, and so, the service policy may not even be used unless a major issue crops up, like with the battery or electronics.

“As such, we are comfortable making the annual checkup entirely optional,” said Tesla. “There is still value to having Tesla look at the car once a year for things like tire alignment, to address a few things here & there and perform any hardware upgrades – our goal is not just to fix things, but to make the car better than it was. However, even if you never bring in the car, your warranty is still valid.”

On the other hand, if the battery or electronics have an issue, Musk said this would be a no-fault thing, and Tesla would not snivel if the owner failed even to have taken minimal steps to become familiarized with the vehicle’s operations and care.

“The intent is to provide complete peace of mind about owning your Model S even if you never read or followed the instructions in the manual,” said Tesla.

Unlike the Roadsters which had a “bricking” problem known to be possible, the Model S is designed to be more fool-proof, so if something goes wrong inside the standard 8-year warranty period, Tesla will cover it, Musk said.

He said Tesla will fix a warranted battery as needed, and if this happens a few years from now, and there happens to be an updated battery available, there may be some leeway in upgrading at that point, it was implied.

Exceptions to the warranty would be such as from collision damage, intentional abuse, or if the battery pack had been opened by non-Tesla personnel.

Musk said the customer-centric program was as close to a dream policy as they could make it. He said he and Tesla designed its provisions putting themselves in customers’ shoes, imagining what they would want in an ideal arrangement if they were the customer.

Showing Itself Smart

While Tesla is bold enough to say its cars are the world’s best, Tesla is never so arrogant as to come out and declare something like “we are smarter,” yet smarter it is potentially showing itself to be.

Is it any wonder auto dealership associations are fighting Tesla’s unorthodox retail store and service center infiltration into their domain, and in cases looking at Tesla like the incarnation of the devil himself?

Talk about upsetting the old way of doing things.

Musk said he tells his service centers not to try and make a profit. He said Tesla is making scant profits selling the cars at this point too.

Of course Tesla is most definitely in business for profit, but how it is aiming to go about achieving this is altogether different.

Traditional dealerships have disparagingly been called “stealerships” by some, and in any case, back-end profits from parts and service are big business to help make up for thin margins perceived from the initial car sale.

Over the years, while many traditional dealerships have made loyal customers who value the relationship, in other cases some dealerships have engendered no love among people who have felt less than valued, if not overcharged or outright burned.

Further, the relationship between salespeople and customer, while typically marked with smiles and surface cordiality, can often behind the scenes be seen as an adversarial affair marked by ambivalence on both sides of the table.

Musk and Tesla are making big efforts to destroy this paradigm.

He said his agenda is not a short-term gain in sales, but long-term loyalty, ostensibly by earning it by maximizing the quality of the service experience.

Reporters today asked Musk what drove him to make the decision – was it knowledge of looming problems he wanted to pre-empt? Was it knowledge of current issues he wanted to head off at the pass?

Surely there have been some issues, but Musk said so far not one battery has failed at the module or cell level, and his goal was planting seeds of long-term buyer trust.

“We want to say ‘just don’t worry about the battery, its going to be fine,’” he told reporters in characterizing the spirit of intent behind Tesla’s motives.

Consumers today are naturally concerned with the expensive battery pack that, being new technology, is due to sooner or later be updated. Jumping into the EV waters does make many people take pause, especially at the $70,000-$110,000-plus prices Tesla is charging for its first sedan.

It would appear Tesla is positioning itself for an above-Mercedes-Benz-level experience, and says it wants to soften the way to the point of being no cause for fear.

Musk said he’d been preoccupied until recently with car design, supply chain, and other issues with launching the Model S, and now has turned his attention to ownership and service issues for Tesla’s growing customer base.

Of course, it all comes at a price, so the program is really like being well insured. It does not guaranty nothing will go wrong, but it is intended to make it as easy as possible should anything need attending to.

Customers who opt in will not need to sit around a dealership listening to air-impact tools ratcheting away in the service bays, with a TV and stale coffee to keep them company.

Instead they get to stay home with a top-line loaner delivered to their door for any reason they need their car looked at.

As for whether this will apply to the Model X and future cars, Musk said Tesla has that as an “aspirational” goal, but would not commit unequivocally that it will.

He said to lower its costs, Tesla may need to bundle out some of the services, but did leave open the possibility the same program could be had in the future for pending models.

The post Tesla Announces ‘World’s Best’ Service Program appeared first on HybridCars.com.

A readers poll conducted by the Austin Business Journal shows that 86 percent of respondents favor direct-to-consumer sales of electric cars, answering yes to the question “Tesla wants to sell electric cars directly to consumers. Should it be allowed to bypass Texas dealership regulations?”

Of the 1721 participants in the poll (as of April 21), only 12 percent favored current franchise dealership regulations, and two percent said they were unsure of their position.

“This survey confirms that Texans, who take pride in their free enterprise philosophy, do not believe that there should be an arbitrary exception in the automotive marketplace. For the Auto Dealer Association to claim that restricting competition is in the best interests of the public is wrong and defies obvious common sense,” said Elon Musk, co-founder and CEO of Tesla Motors. “We hope that legislators will consider the overwhelming support shown in this poll and vote yes on House Bill 3351/Senate Bill 1659, which would allow manufacturers of electric cars to sell directly to consumers in Texas. This amendment takes care to ensure that the long held franchise rights of auto dealers to sell their existing brands are still protected, which was the original intention of the law.”

Tesla believes traditional auto dealerships have a fundamental conflict of interest relative to selling the virtues of an electric car. It is hard for them to sell EVs without counter-selling the mainstay of their business. Tesla also said the ability to sell direct to consumers is therefore important for the adoption of sustainable transportation and is the best chance that a new electric car company has of succeeding.

Following passage of this bill, Tesla is committed to create several hundred new jobs in Texas at its stores and service centers.

Tesla ended its press release relative to this survey by stating that Texas would also be a leading candidate for the location of a future Tesla auto manufacturing plant.

The post Austin Business Journal’s Readers Favorable To Tesla Stores appeared first on HybridCars.com.

This news was delivered by Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a follow up blog post yesterday to his last presentation of evidence against Broder. Musk wrote the Times’ public editor said “John Broder had ‘problems with precision and judgment,’ ‘took casual and imprecise notes’ and made ‘few conclusions that are unassailable.’

And even if Broder had been fastidious to the Nth degree, Tesla’s take on the highly publicized dispute was verified by other media outlets as well as “several” private owners of Tesla Model S who all undertook to duplicate the allegedly fated run.

“A debt of appreciation is also owed to other media outlets,” wrote Musk, “such as CNN, CNBC, and Consumer Reports, who repeated The New York Times test drive at normal highway speeds and comfortable cabin temperatures without ever running out of range.”

The Times was also flooded with hundreds of letters by owners of the Model S who showed their support for “Tesla and the electric car revolution,” Musk said.

“The bottom line is that the Model S combined with Supercharging works well for a long road trip, even in a cold, snowy winter,” wrote Musk. “Nonetheless, we will keep increasing the number of Superchargers, improving the software in the car (via over the air updates), and the technology behind the Supercharger itself.”

While it was in full swing, the Times vs. Tesla dispute was also temporary fodder for the pundits to practice their punditry, some of which gave passing attempts at objectivity, then proceeded to emphasize Broder’s side, and say such things as “all-electric cars are (basically) dead on arrival.”

True enough EVs are new technology, yet in their infancy, but it would appear reports of their death (in the cradle) have been greatly exaggerated.

UPDATE: Feb. 26, 2013: We were contacted by the New York Times explaining that despite the apparently unequivocal interpretation Elon Musk made in writing his blog post which was the basis for this report, the Times does not in fact “cede” the dispute to Tesla. The write-up cited by Musk by the public editor was explained to be her own opinion, and not representative of an official retraction of Broder’s report. Public Editor Margaret Sullivan’s clarification was pointed out to us as a note she briefly wrote Feb. 21 in the Public Editor’s Journal. It reads:

One addendum, for the sake of clarity: As public editor, I speak only for myself. My opinions about what happened during and after the Tesla Model S road test, expressed in my Monday blog post, are not those of The Times.

Commenting on this, Times Automobiles Deputy Editor Norman Mayersohn said he knew of no change in the paper’s position or support for John Broder’s article.

“Inside, I’ve heard nothing but complete support, and in meetings at the top levels on the news side of the paper, we’ve had no doubts expressed,” Mayersohn said in an e-mail to HybridCars.com. “Tesla has not released any data, only their graphic representations of the feed from the car, so there’s really no basis for any change of that viewpoint.”

The official statement from the Times’ Eileen Murphy, Mayersohn observed, reads:

The Times‘s Feb. 10 article recounting a reporter’s test drive in a Tesla Model S was completely factual, describing the trip in detail exactly as it occurred. Any suggestion that the account was “fake” is, of course, flatly untrue. Our reporter followed the instructions he was given in multiple conversations with Tesla personnel. He described the entire drive in the story; there was no unreported detour. And he was never told to plug the car in overnight in cold weather, despite repeated contact with Tesla.

Tesla blog

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Yorkdale Shopping Centre features Canada’s first and only Tesla electric vehicle store.

“Electric vehicles are no longer a novelty, they’re becoming a way of life,” said Yorkdale General Manager Anthony Casalanguida. “Our Tesla store is the company’s highest traffic location in the world. We want all electric vehicle drivers to be able to plug and charge the vehicles at their convenience and shop or dine at their leisure.”

The mall’s management said the new charging stations are publicly available and capable of charging all electric vehicle models.

“Electric car sales are growing strong, with almost 2500 vehicles on the road today in Canada and estimates of over 100,000 in Canada by 2020.  With new models coming out from almost every manufacturer in the next two years, low fueling costs of about one sixth the price of gas and reducing CO2 emissions by as much as 90%, the electric car is poised to surge in popularity” says Cara Clairman, President and CEO of Plug’n Drive, a non-profit organization that is advocating a switch to electric cars for their environmental and economic benefits.

The Electric Vehicle Charging Stations are available on a first come, first serve basis.  These parking spots are available at a rate of $2 an hour to a maximum of a $5 session. The fee pays for the use of the spot and the electricity is free.

Drivers can pay for parking in these stations with Charge Pass Cards available through Charge Point or with Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover Cards with RFID technology.

The charging station installed at Yorkdale are single output stations that provide 7.2 kilowatt (208/240 volts at 30 amps) Level 2 charging and are designed for the North American marketplace. An 18-foot cable makes it easy to charge any electric vehicle.

The post Yorkdale, Home Of Tesla Canada’s Store, Installs Four EV Charging Stations appeared first on HybridCars.com.

As its initial vehicle, the Roadster has been gradually rolled out into a growing number of international markets; investor confidence in Tesla Motors has steadily increased.

With deliveries of its second car, the Model S luxury sedan set to begin this summer and plans on the horizon for introducing further vehicles, such as the Model X people mover, revenues for the Silicon Valley company are expected to triple this year, with Tesla on target to make a profit in 2013.

Not surprisingly this has done wonders for Tesla stock, which has seen value jump from $17 to over $32 a share since the company first went public in 2010. Growing confidence in the electric vehicle market hasn’t hurt either.

For Abu Dhabi National Energy, one of the original shareholders in Tesla, this represents a good opportunity to sell its 7.3 million shares in the automaker.

Just how good? Try a total profit of $113 million. Some might find it odd that a largely state-owned oil exploration and energy company might want to buy shares in a maker of EVs in the first place, but the investment was actually a transfer from the Abu Dhabi Electric and Water Authority.

As a result, the Tesla stock purchase was never deemed a core asset by the Energy concern, so the sale doesn’t come as much of a surprise for many analysts. Now that it’s made a tidy little sum from the stock sale, Abu Dhabi National Energy plans to use the funds to pursue opportunities more in line with it’s core business; namely expansion in oil and gas operations in the Middle East and North Africa regions.

That said, despite the sale, the government of Abu Dhabi still retains a sizeable indirect interest in Tesla. German automaker Daimler AG maintains a stake in the EV company and according to Arab News, the emirate of Abu Dhabi is currently Daimler’s largest single shareholder.

Arab News via Autoblog Green

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As Tesla Motors continues to build excitement for its all-electric Model S sedan and Model X CUV, an enthusiasm-quelling story about its Roadster’s battery pack turning into a proverbial “brick” has been circulating and prompting a predictable backlash of re-reporting and commentary.

The anti-excitement got started by a report that cited “at least” five owners who were faced with around $40,000 each in repair costs after allowing their Roadsters to go to a zero state of charge. Four had reportedly left their Roadsters unplugged but one was said to have had his battery die after using the wrong kind of extension cord.

The term “brick” refers to a dead machine and is borrowed from the world of electronic devices, which the Tesla automobiles basically happen to be, albeit with wheels and intended for transportation.

And a brick is what they essentially become if left unplugged long enough. As explained by theunderstatement.com which originated the story, the six-figure sports car can go from full charge to zero inside of 11 weeks due to always on subsystems trickling the juice away, and from there to catastrophic failure. If the battery was partially charged when the car was put away unplugged, it could be a shorter time to zero state of charge. If run to almost no charge, then put away unplugged, it could reportedly take just a few days or perhaps weeks before the vehicle is dead.

The story also made clear that Tesla’s supplied information explicitly states that it is the owner’s responsibility to never let the battery pack fully deplete.

However, if a Roadster is drained and passes into a state of electrical rigor mortis, it cannot be revived, nor can the vehicle even be rolled. Worse, Tesla does not cover it under warranty, and reportedly neither do insurance companies. The devastation requires a $32,000 replacement battery, plus labor, and taxes bringing the repair bill to around $40,000.

According to theunderstatement.com, an un-named Tesla regional service manager attests to “at least five cases of Tesla Roadsters being ‘bricked’ due to battery depletion.”

Unknown is whether there are additional cases in other regions or countries, the article added.

Included in the reported cases was one owner whose Roadster became a brick after leaving it unplugged for weeks in a temporary garage while his house was under renovation. Another person used a 100-foot extension cord but the long cord was presumably too light a gauge, and current loss exceeded current replenishment – this Roadster therefore bricked despite being plugged in. Another owner reportedly shipped a Roadster to Japan and said he could not plug in anywhere and by then it was too late.

As mentioned the news has been repeated in the blogosphere, and some have already deemed it “nonsense” or blamed negligent owners. One publication responding to this alarming story asked whether these were just accounts given by angry owners on the losing end of a warranty claim.

Whether this is the case or not cannot be determined with the info available, but despite allegations against the writer, theunderstanding.com did not present an exceptionally sensational story. It did explain the ins and outs of Tesla’s warranty, and was fairly thorough in a piece at about 2,500 words plus notes – easily three times or more the word count of re-reports.

Also documented was Tesla’s “unorthodox” means of preventing battery depletion by remotely monitoring the vehicles via installed electronics that connect through AT&T’s GSM-based cellular network.

“According to the Tesla service manager, Tesla has used this information on multiple occasions to proactively telephone customers to warn them when their Roadster’s battery was dangerously low,” theunderstatement.com wrote.

The writer alleged also that Tesla is playing down the issue, although not denying it exists.

Following is a response from Tesla:

All automobiles require some level of owner care. For example, combustion vehicles require regular oil changes or the engine will be destroyed. Electric vehicles should be plugged in and charging when not in use for maximum performance. All batteries are subject to damage if the charge is kept at zero for long periods of time. However, Tesla avoids this problem in virtually all instances with numerous counter-measures. Tesla batteries can remain unplugged for weeks (even months), without reaching zero state of charge. Owners of Roadster 2.0 and all subsequent Tesla products can request that their vehicle alert Tesla if SOC falls to a low level. All Tesla vehicles emit various visual and audible warnings if the battery pack falls below 5 percent SOC. Tesla provides extensive maintenance recommendations as part of the customer experience.

Roadster production was recently discontinued after around 2,200 units were sold worldwide. The question now is whether this will mean potential trouble for the Model S which is next up for production, and Tesla hopes to sell many more of these.

Theunderstatement.com covered this too.

“Tesla’s service manager stated the upcoming Model S definitely shares the Roadster’s discharge problem, describing it as fundamental to the battery technology. Another Tesla employee concurred, saying it would be ‘neglect’ to leave the vehicle unplugged when it’s parked.”

Model S is next up as Tesla’s inaugural mode, the Roadster, begins to recede into history.

Citing purportedly “understated” instructions to keep the Model S plugged in, and hinting that human nature will find a way to brick them also, the writer mentions the company has accepted $465 million in federal loans based on promises to deliver a viable mainstream electric car.

In short, the writer said he was left wondering whether Tesla is setting itself up for more trouble as it attempts to appeal to mainstream buyers.

“Yet today, in my opinion, Tesla seems to be knowingly selling cars that can turn into bricks without any financial protection for the customer,” the author wrote with a subsequent note that he was uncompensated and personally had a deposit on a Model X. “Until there’s a fundamental change in Tesla’s technology, it would seem the only other option for Tesla is to help its customers insure against this problem.”

Although some publications have said warnings are overblown – although if so, by how much is in question – it appears one point driven home is that Teslas do not have the shelf life of an internal combustion car if left unattended. Internal combustion cars may see their 12-volt battery die after weeks or months, but this is not catastrophic. If left much longer, other things can go wrong like internal corrosion, fuel possibly evaporating, and eventually even seals can dry out. There are storage procedures for these vehicles as well to prevent things from going wrong.

At this juncture, we’ll avoid going out on a limb, and just say if you intend to get a Tesla – and barring any engineering updates the company may devise to make its cars more foolproof as Nissan has already with its Leaf – make sure you understand what you’re getting, and are prepared.

The post Story of Teslas Turning Into 'Bricks' Making the Rounds appeared first on HybridCars.com.

Late last week, Tesla announced that its fourth-quarter net loss widened to $81.5 million, compared to $51.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2010. Still, the company’s annual revenue beat the street’s predictions. The automaker reported annual net revenue of $204.2 million in 2011, where analysts had projected $203.5 million. That’s nearly a 75-percent increase over Tesla’s reported annual revenue of $116.7 million in 2010.

Tesla attributes last year’s losses to nearly $200 million in capital expenditures, which were spent readying the carmaker’s Fremont, California production facility to build the Model S. Tesla now predicts that annual revenue for 2012 may soar to $600 million, with 90 percent of the money expected to come in the second half of the year, when the Model S goes on sale.

During a conference call, Tesla chief executive officer, Elon Musk, stated “The bulk of 2012 revenue is Model S-related.” Tesla aims to sell up to 5,000 Model S electric sedans by the end of 2012. But until Model S deliveries commence, Tesla’s main revenue source is supply deals with Toyota and Daimler.

Tesla concluded last week’s conference call by announcing that it had struck a deal with Daimler to develop an entire electric powertrain, including battery packs, motors, electronic controls and software for an upcoming Mercedes-Benz vehicle. Musk didn’t elaborate on the Daimler deal, but did state, “I do expect that this will be significant, probably more significant than the sum of all deals we’ve done with Daimler to date.”

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