Read for yourselves....

************************************************** *****

Thank you for your interest in Tesla Motors. It’s been a little more than a month since we unveiled our Tesla Roadster and the response we’ve received from the media, the marketplace and interested buyers like you have exceeded our expectations. We appreciate your patience as we respond to your inquiries.

As you may have heard, we quickly filled all of the reservations for the Signature 100 edition of the Tesla Roadster. As a result, we reached a decision to open up reservations for an additional series of the next 100 produced Tesla Roadsters. These vehicles, like the Signature 100, will be fully loaded versions of the Tesla Roadster. This helps us to minimize the time it will take to get your car delivered to you. Your Tesla Roadster will include:

• Removable hard top and soft top
• Navigation system
• Mobile charging cable
• Upgraded leather interior
• A/C, power locks and windows, cruise control
• Heated seats, stereo w/ CD player, iPod connector
• Valet mode to limit car’s range, acceleration and speed
• Security system
• Dual airbags, ABS brakes, traction control
• Tesla-branded floor mats

These next 100 Tesla Roadsters have an anticipated delivery date in the fall of 2007. As with the Signature 100, these Tesla Roadsters will be priced at $100,000 (excluding taxes and other governmental fees). To secure a spot, we require a reservation payment of $75,000 which can be applied to the sales price at the time of delivery. This reservation payment is fully refundable at any time up to and including the day of delivery.

If you happen to live outside of a 100 mile radius of one of our initial Customer Care Centers (locations to be in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York City and Miami), we will be charging a one time out-of-service area fee of $8000. This fee will allow you to receive the same high level of service that customers within 100 mile radius will receive and will cover the cost of sending a Tesla Motors-trained technician to your home or transporting your car to our nearest facility for servicing if necessary.
To confirm your interest in reserving a Tesla Roadster, please send an email to reservations@teslamotors.com. For general comments and inquiries, please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions located at www.teslamotors.com/learn_more/faqs.php.
Again we thank you for your interest.
Sincerely,
Gretchen Joyce
Vice President Sales
Tesla Motors, Inc.

 

that there's no market for full electrics, put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Matt

 

Of course there's a market for flights to the space station too, but you have to have the cash to get there. Looks to be the same for this car too. So there are a bunch of cantspendmycashasfastasimakeit people waiting in line for a $100,000 car + extras. Doesn't mean the market for electric cars is anywhere near the pleasure you took in wowing us with such a small selective market. Proves nada.

 

Dang, I wish I was rich...

 

instead of a car that's comparable to a high performance Porsche, think about a $40k car that has the perfomance of a Honda Civic Coupe.

Also, if that demo Mini hybrid in another thread were a $50k car, it would sell like crazy. Not much more than a fully optioned JCW, and 640 HP, not to mention a 80 MPG efficiency. I'd buy that in a heartbeat, even though the wheel/motors really screw the unsprung weight.

While I admit a 100 person waiting list for a $100k piece of vapor wear isn't a huge amount of people, it's not "no demand".

Thank you for your thoughtfull and well considered post.

Matt

 

$100K is just silly. For that money you could buy an Exige and 10 years worth of petrol. At a more reasonable price point (say 40-50k), these things will sell significant numbers, especially in their home state of California. Of course, if you define "significant" as 50000 cars per year, then MINIs are insignificant too.

 

Neat car but to give them a $75K interest free loan for a year is excessive in my book. Not to mention the $8K fee if you live outside of the service area. Makes MINIs spaced out dealerships seem close by and reasonable by comparison. I do hope true, efficient electric vehicles take off, though. The Tesla does prove the viability of a fast electric car.

 

We could all go buy Catherham 7s with a Cosworth motor for lots less than other cars too.

Sure, this isn't for everyone, but it looks like all the technologies (control, engine, battery etc) are coming together. The first cars were very expensive compared to a horse and not that usefull either. How many of us ride horses to work today!

I really find it interesting the number of people who compare new technologies to established technologies and say it's a waste of time. I guess those are the type of people who kept investing in Buggy Whip stock when the cars were coming out.

Matt

 

Matt, I'm about as far from a luddite as you'll run across. I tend to get excited about new tech simply for the coolness of new technology. But I stand by my comment of the PRICE POINT of the Tesla as being silly. I'm absolutely enthused about the tech itself, and if the range was better, (and I had the money lying around with nothing better to do) I might buy one. At that price, the 100 they've sold already may well be 1/4 of the cars they will ever sell. Which would suck, because the concept is fantastic and the execution looks amazing.

 

that go 0-60 in 4 seconds. I think you'll be surprised to find that it's not really far off the market for cars with that performance. And like the Mini demo in another thread, all it takes to make range in cars is to have a very small gas (diesel preferred, more efficient) generator. Did you see that Mini has a range (including the gas part) of 1500 KM! That's over 900 miles. Tesla didn't go that way for whatever reason.

But really, the first cars weren't for the masses either. but look how that changed over time. Sure, if this "slice of time" were all that there were to be, I'd agree. But we're talking about early adoptors. And there surely aren't as many as the main market. But it's good that someone will shake out the technology at a high price point.

Remember the first pocket calculators? $900 for something that didn't do much. The first purchasers of them got what they paid for, something new, and unique, and maybe just a bit more practical than going to a termanal and working on a main frame. Wasn't for the masses. but look how times change.

You can look at technology introductions over time, and pretty much they all follow this model. Just because that the first of anything doesn't make sense for most of the market doesn't mean that it doesn't make sense.

I think Tesla did what they did to make a spash of the capabilities of the technology, much like that Mini conversion. And a spash they surely made. I wonder if they had made a Civic Coupe like car at lower performance and price point if the splash would have been the same. It sure wouldn't have been easy to meet demand. As it is, they seem swamped with customers for their product at their manufacturing capacity for about 2 years. That will work for thier customers, few though they may be, and for them, with a revenue stream through the launch of the company.

I'm not gonna buy one, I don't know if I'd ever spend $100k on a car (I was close to pulling the trigger on a Ford GT at $120k, but as the price rose and my financial health didn't, that fell buy the wayside).

So I agree and disagree. Sure this isn't for everyone. Now. What about 5 years from now, or just 3. Or 10. And for all those that think hydrogen cars will be the "it", they are ELECTRIC cars with hydrogen as the fuel storage medium. Will they be here in 3, 5 or 10 year? Really, a hybrid like the Mini concept will have less of a green house gas footprint than a hydrogen car in the US because we'll get the hydrogen from cracking methane! Gotta put the carbon somewhere! When you look at all the conversion efficiencies and the like, a hybrid like the Mini with a diesel generator is really the way to go, and it could be here pretty much now, if the car companies had the brains to think thier way out of a paper bag.

I'm glad there are those that will buy it, and I hope Tesla follows up with a new factory to build something with more range and less performance.

But time will tell.

Wonder how many conversations like this took place in the parlors of people who had horses and were thinking about cars!

Matt

 

I'd also be interested to know how air conditioning and heating affects the range of these cars. Seems like when you get outside of 70 degree all the time coastal California, the utility of them might drop off quite a bit.

 

All valid points Matt. And I guess that if they are TRYING to limit sales to the true technophiles for now to clean the bugs, it makes some sense.
The range issue was why the recent MINI conversion in England had me even more excited than the Tesla originally did. 1500km range? Then your stops are really only determined by your bladder.
And the AC/heat issue is important too, at least for the future. Almost impossible to mass-market a car for more than $10k in the US without effective AC. How much drain will that be?

 

Agro, I think you are off base here.

Sure this is for early adapters but so wasn't the MINI in 2002.

4 sec performance puts it in Porsche GT3 territory ($106K base ... most likely $115K out the door).

If you have never read the exotic car forums, porsche forums, etc. you have no idea how much money people have out there to burn ... $100K is chump change to some people. Some ppl have AMAZING car collections full of exotics you would not believe.

I predict they will sell out 100 cars in a heartbeat. Just for the novelty of owning one.

 

So your predictive powers are right on, even if a bit untimely!

They're busy signing up the next 100....

Matt

 

Yeah, I just read that ...

I think part of the problem here is people's perspective on life ...
The average car sold in the US is $28K or so. MINIs are BELOW average (in terms of average price).

I have seen car lists where the husband buys the wife a Porsche TT while he gets a Carrera GT to go along with the Lambos, F430s and dozen other exotics in the garage.

Its all a matter of perspective

 

That I wish I could afford!

Matt

 

for those that are older movie buffs......

"Plastics!"

 

All that is true. I know that there are people who think nothing of dropping 150K on a car that they'll rarely (if ever) drive. But is that really the market that electric car manufacturers are likely to be aiming for? The point of an electric is to reduce global emissions and human footprint and all that hippie stuff.
How do you achieve that with an elite exotic that sells a few hundred units? Given that objective, Tesla should be working hard to lower the price point to where it will actually remove some of the gas-guzzling pollution generators from the roads. Unless they are really just bread-heads playing at being eco-warriors while maximising profits.

 

I like the Tesla a lot and the idea even more, but for that kind of coin I would buy an Ariel Atom. This one is a one of a kind w/ Honda K20a engine tuned to 245 hp going for $70K:



http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27579

That gives me +$30K for gas and other fun things like track fees plus I can get it today!

Really hard to say the Tesla isn't more than just a high end toy at that kind of price.

 

Just for kicks

Here is someone with a lot of toys!

http://www.jabbasworld.net/viewtopic...er=asc&start=0

 

and does his dad want to adopt!

Matt

 

Who's doing all electic coversion on these suckers too! Don't know the cost though. But you can be sure that $30k won't be there after he's done!

But itsn't the Airiel Atom a high end toy at 70% of the price? And where do you put your jacket?

Matt

 

Agreed, they are both toys. Neither are practicle or affordable (at least not to me). I think in the toy market, the Tesla is a hard sell when it has so many other awesome competetors at that price point. The Atom that I gave as an example is even more unique (one of a kind), is just as (un)practicle as the Tesla, and as you mentioned is only 70% of the price. If you are an eco geek with a need for speed and +$100K to blow, then by all means, ****** one up; otherwise there are better things out there for the same or less money.

Personally, I really hope they are able to bring that kind of thinking and technology to the sub $30K market. I would love a small two seater electric car to hammer the corners in town with.

 

Taking orders for '08's now...

As Matt knows, I've been contemplating a roadster, and electric... and with the type of performance the Tesla offers, without the hassle and expense of gassing-up, not to mention oil, filters, plugs, etc... and the corresponding benefits & perks, I'm quite interested.

I'd want a more stripped-down model, as all now are being sold fully-equiped...

The batteries last 100k+ miles. Matt, what do think those would cost to replace, at least at today's prices?

Besides weight-reduction, how does one hop-up an electric engine?

0-60 in about 4 seconds is very nice. I'd like to see 0-100, and other acceleration figures as well...

 

i think it is more of a fad than anything else, but hey that makes toys fun.