tesla

Premium Green Automakers Go Opposite Direction with Dealerships

Want to get yourself an environmentally friendly new ride? Soon you'll have more choices – and more luxurious choices – than a Toyota Prius, but you may find the experience vastly different. Upstart American automakers Tesla and Fisker are both in the process of bringing their battery-powered luxury sedans and convertibles to market, but with entirely different strategies. Fisker, creator of the hybrid Karma sedan and Karma Sunset convertible, is authorizing existing luxury car dealerships across the United States to sell and service its vehicles, allowing them to get into more markets more quickly while tapping in to local expertise. Tesla, on the other hand, so far is only selling its Roadster at its own retail locations in California. But by the time the Model S (pictured above with the Roadster) hits the market, the plan is to open more factory-owned retail locations, which the company likens to Apple stores, in major metropolitan centers from coast to coast. Which will work out better for the rival green automakers? Only time will tell, but we'll have to head down to the local dealerships ourselves to see in person.

Tags: fisker, fisker dealership, FiskerDealership, tesla, tesla dealership, tesla store, TeslaDealership, TeslaStore

Tesla Shows a Little Thigh Ahead of Unveiling the Model S on March 26

by Sam Abuelsamid (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

Click the Model S to enlarge

Tesla Motors sent out a newsletter to its many fans late last night with an update on the state of the business and a preview of what's coming up next. While the Roadster is an outstanding sports car, a tiny two seater is certainly not for everyone, especially at a starting price of $109,000. Therefore, Tesla has been working on a follow-up the Model S sport sedan. Like it's little brother, this one is battery powered but has the ability to carry four. With an entry price of $57,500 (before assorted plug-in vehicle tax credits kick in) the Model S has the potential zero emissions luxury motoring to a whole new crowd. So far this teasing lift of the hem-line is all we've been allowed to see, but those in the know say it is worth the wait. That wait by the way will be six more weeks. Tesla will unveil the Model S to a select group of VIPs on March 26 in Los Angeles. Now if Tesla can just get the loans it needs from the DOE to make the Model S a reality, it could be on the road by 2011.

[Sources: Tesla, AutoblogGreen]

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Tags: tesla, tesla model s, tesla model s teaser, tesla motors, TeslaModelS, TeslaModelSTeaser, teslamotors

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Tesla Announces New Roadster Sport

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

If the Tesla Roadster wasn't zippy enough for you, Tesla Motors has announced the Roadster Sport, a new faster upgrade to the all-electric, zero-emission vehicle that eco-minded celebrities and other deep-pocketed and green folks have been waiting to get their hands on. The Roadster Sport does 0 to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, shaving a mere .2 seconds off the time for the the standard Roadster. It has a hand-wound stator and increased winding density for lower resistance and higher peak torque. The Roadster Sport has Yokohama Ultra High Performance tires, improved suspension with adjustable dampers and anti-roll bars that will be tuned to the driver's preference. The Roadster Sport starts at $128,500 in the United States and deliveries begin in late June. So far Tesla has delivered more than 150 Roadsters and another 1,100 people are on the waiting list. Those on the list can upgrade to the new Sport model.

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Tags: roadster, tesla

$10 Million For A Fuel-Efficient Ride

by Laura Malesich (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos, Green

The X Prize Foundation is looking to reward the team that can produce the most production ready vehicle that gets one-hundred miles to the gallon a smashing prize -- $10 million! Last week at the New York Auto Show, the contest was announced and has spurred sixty teams from nine different countries to get their engines running. Applicants will continue to be accepting through mid-2008 and the chosen ones will test their new designs on the road in 2009 and 2010. Whether they are university students or well-known auto makers like Tesla and Aptera Motors, one thing is for sure -- innovation and huge prize purses will bring us a greener future on the road.

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Tags: Aptera, Progressive-Automotive-XPrize, Tesla, X Prize Foundation, XPrizeFoundation

Tesla To Electrify Chicago

by Erin Mays (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

Electric supercars seem to be all the rage, or so we're led to believe with the unveiling of crazy-fast ones like Hybrid Technologies' 2007 L1X-75 and Commuter Cars Corporation's "Tango." Not to be outdone, Tesla Motors and the $93,000 electric sports car it's selling are taking their act to The Windy City, where the Silicon Valley startup is shopping around for 8,000-10,000 square feet of space in the River North, Gold Coast and Streeterville neighborhoods -- close to luxury retail that attracts the kind of customers Tesla is looking for, according to Phil Baugh, a vice-president with Baum Realty Group and the brokerage professional helping Tesla out with its search.

The roadster, which is made in a Lotus factory in England, can heat up the track with the best of them, clocking in at just 4 seconds going 0-60 and hitting at least 130 mph. Better yet, the distance between charges is as much as 200 miles -- quite a cut above most electric car ranges.

So far, the company boasts that 400 orders have been placed with deposits of $30,000, putting them well within range of the 800 to 1,000 vehicles the company expects to sell by October, when customers can take delivery.

This news comes as we're also getting details on the new partnership between Lotus Engineering and the electric car maker ZAP, presumably to produce a new crossover sport utility vehicle based on Lotus Engineering's APX aluminum chassis technology.

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Tags: alternative fuel, AlternativeFuel, electric cars, ElectricCars, green, lithium-ion, tesla

Drive Green with a Tesla Roadster!

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Luxury Cars & Autos

The Tesla Roadster was unveiled this week in Santa Monica, California, and our friends at AutoblogGreen got a backstage look at the car and sat in on a test drive. The roadster is the first 100% electric performance car on the market and not only has no emissions (and no tailpipe), but actually generates energy when driven. The owners of the car will be doing a lot of driving, too, because the super-sleek car does 0-60 in 4 seconds and has a top speed of over 130 mph; it handles like a gas powered sports car, but like most EVs, makes no noise while doing so. The car comes with a home-based charging kit, so there is no need to install a generator in your garage, and charging it takes only 3.5 hours. Estimates state that the car will get around 250 miles per charge.

The roadster will be available for purchase starting in the spring of 2007, but people present at the unveiling were able to place advance orders for the car. The price will range from $80,000-$120,000.

More pics after the jump.

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Tags: autoblog, autobloggreen, eco-friendly, electric vehicle, ev, luxury car, performance car, sports car, tesla, tesla motors, TeslaMotors, zero emissions