$49,900! thats cheaper than the hideous E-class!

A new way to show off how green you are! Being on a waiting list for a model to come in 5 years or never!…

I really like this car but it needs a bit to be perfected in my eyes. Mechanically speaking. Design wise, it is gorgous. $50k seems very reasonable considering the roadster is double that and is, by all measurements, less of a car.

Look! It’s the Tesla S VPRWR edition!

Lol mayer_ray. They should use that as a vanity plate on their test mules!

I love this car.
The price is right, But I will wait for version 2.0 before jumping in.

When is this car coming to the market? 2011?

I think it has no Microsoft software in it, so maybe you wont need to reboot it at each traffic light.

Furthermore, this car for 50 large has much more potential then Volt for almost 50 large. What is shocking, that a start up can build a car for the price/performance that established manufacturer can’t. Ford even not trying it, and GM f*cked up before coming to the market.

I wonder under what pretenses those pre-orders were placed.

Tesla initially said the Model S was built on a proprietary platform but their statement was a bit misleading. The Model S they previewed was a barely driveable show car built on a Mercedes chassis (which many predicted) and passed off as being near production ready.

I’d be weary of giving Tesla anything more than your name to put on a general interest list.

Borat:

Again your ignorance is on display. First of all the Volt has NOT been priced. The $40k figure is pure specualtion at this point. Also, this Tesla is going on sale for over TWO years. Its no better than the Volt in terms of speed to market. Furthermore, the oft repeated $50k figure is price after rebate which means the car is really $57k. If the Volt comes in at $40k before rebate that actual price will be $32,500 for the customer which is WAY cheaper than this proposed car. I would like to know how a car from a niche manufacturer with no dealer network or history of reliability is a better bet than a Volt that will be sold through thousands of established Chevy dealers around the country.

The Tesla owner was on Autoline and said it cost over $90,000 to BUILD the Roadster. This vehicle I believe has more content. $50K seems pretty improbable.

Carstuff: The Roadster is made of carbon fiber, which adds a lot of cost to the car. It also is made in low volumes in europe. Plus, the $57k model s is the 160 mile version. The 220 and 300 mile versions will cost more.

nothing more useful than a car with a 160m range. You cant even drive from Philly to NYC and back with that range.

sj79, thank you for your insightful comments. If 40K figure is a pure speculation, what bodily cavity your calculation of discounts belongs to? What national company are you referring? Government Motors? This is fine company that cost us billions and we really don’t know if it will be around for Volt’s birthday. Or you have information to the contrary? GM is not in bankruptcy and doing fine? I am waiting for clarification from your esteemed colleague NMOFG.

Volt is a plug-in hybrid…and model s is pure EV….so….I think Volt is a loser here.

Government incentives to sell this puppy. lol.

I really like the Model S, I’m interested in what the production version will really look like and when they actually are going to release it.

I think $50k is very reasonable for this type of car. As the manufacturing and technology gets better, so will the price of these EV cars.

Especially if they keep the 7 passenger quality and rent-able batteries for long trips.

Borat I would’nt be so fast to Give Tesla the crown. I too am Please that Tesla has announced that it will have various range option(s) for the Tesla 4 Door Sedan Electric. and One * with a 300 Mile Range. Good for Tesla. However as was said earlier that may be in a year 2 years or too far to be of any consequence. Its ALL Contigent as Tesla has let it be know that a 300 Mile variant is if they can get the money to build not only the factory for the car but also to creat the batteries necessary for production.
They want a 450 Million dollar slice of the Battery Innovation and Iniative by the US Government of which you and I pay taxes for. Ford is build a Focus with a 100 Mile range and that is not contigent on the getting anything from the Fed Gov, however, they expressed their help in creating a more powerful Lithium Ion Battery of their own from that money and they should! So you can’t discredit Ford they are moving as fast as Tesla. I am happy though Tesla did put others on notice with the First Electric.

I’m rooting for Tesla, I hope they show the world that electric cars can be quite a joy to ride in!

Look at the Roadster for god’s sakes! Thank god Tesla realized they could excite us with a sports car, show us where the technology can go (Electric doesn’t have to mean boring) and THEN bring on somewhat more practical cars like the Model S.

I wouldnt want to be a blind person or anyone listening to their ipod for that matter and walk near or around this car without due care to look….you’ll get smashed BECAUSE U CANT HEAR THE FN THING..

electric cars suck…..

So you don’t like them because they’re quiet? Is that it?

As I noted in the Fisker thread, there’s nothing sucky about the Tesla Roadster. 0-60 in 3.9 seconds and peak torque at 0 rpm. Electric cars are coming and you should turn down your iPod and stay out of the way.

I’ve heard the quiet argument before and I think it’s silly, just people finding ANY reason they can to nitpick and reject new technology.

No one should be comparing the Volt to the Model S. Model S is a large luxury car while Volt is a midsize family sedan.

@2WheeledSpeed
The problem is that it’s not a Tesla model. It’s a damn Lotus with batteries in it.
@Nick Aziz
Telsa roadster is expensive becoause of the carbonfiber? What if they had to evolve a platform of their own, how expensive would that be? Be cause thats the case with the model S
@gugy, EvoJohn
What you guys love or like is not a car. It’s a concept. A theory of something that could be built in 5 years. Minimum. Oh, and by a car company.

Some people metioned that it will take 2 years to have this car on the market. Let’s see then what Tesla has to do in two years:
Find a place to bulit a factory,
hire people: to design a brand new competitive platform, to design a production line for a car no one has ever buil before, to organise the safety testing and satisfy all requirements, to create a nationwide sales network (not even Fiat attempted that!).
And after all this, they should start working… All of them at the same time, under tremedous time shortage and with an extremely low cost so that they will achieve the 50k price. And of course all alone without the help of any experienced company as no one will help to built a competitor for their own cars.
All alone, then, from the scratch, without any expierience of building cars…
Now go see what Tesla is at the moment, and you will realize what sort of naive believers you are.

Borat:

You can talk about GM all you want but that wont change the realities of Teslas $57k ar that wont be on sale for 2.5 years. People like you try to change the subject to government loans whenever you come up short in an argument. I would say GM has about as much a chance of being here in 2 years as Tesla. GM going bankrupt does not mean Chevy dealerships and products will disappear. One thing we know is that Chevy will be around one way or another. I think that a mass produced electric cars sold and serviced at thousands of dealerships is more significant than a $57k luxury car sold at a handful of dealers in California. What are people in Chicago or NYC or Atlanta supposed to do if they want a Tesla?

SomeGreek, my point is not to praise the Roadster specifically. I’m just happy they’re showing the world that not only can it be done, it can be fun! I’m hoping that other companies will now start coming out with exciting electric cars, and not things like that stupid volt…

I think even after we get electrics to far surpass the IC Engine in terms of both performance and range.
It won’t solve the basic problems we still face with Vehicles and that is the Congestion we face on road ways and other things that happen. I see the day where Electrics instead of getting 300 Mile per charge get 3000 Miles per charge. Ultra Capcitor are the main source of power not batteries. And Performance is really out of this world meaning an Electric car could break the sound barrier its so Freakin Fast. Cars and all vehicles will communicate with each other to avoid any sort of collison. But Newer smaller alternative vehicles may arise.
And best of all with Renewable Energy in Full Swing Electricity is so cheap its pathetic. And then total harmony is achieved and we all walk naked with Perfect bodies and our perfect girls off into the sunset together in Thong bikinis lol