Bad news for Tesla buyers ....

[S592R]

Looks like Tesla is having a credit issue.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27226233/

 

[Empty Pockets]

Name a domestic car company that ISN'T.

 

[Pantera1]

Once the election is over and gas skyrockets again Tesla's financial situation will get better....:cheers Plus...I really want one !! :banana :biggrin

 

[MAD IN NC]

Once the election is over and gas skyrockets again Tesla's financial situation will get better....:cheers Plus...I really want one !! :banana :biggrin

yep so do I, but if you are not within 60 miles of a authorized Telsa service dealer you have a $10,000 prepay travel policy with them to "fly to fix" ....

 

[Pantera1]

yep do do I, but if you are not within 60 miles of a authorized Telsa service dealer you have a $10,000 prepay travel policy with them to "fly to fix" ....

OUCH !! Maybe I don't want one....:frown

 

[nthfinity]

Elon Musk is the new John DeLorean. Crack cocaine, anyone?

The Valley's hottest electric-car maker is running on fumes. Tesla Motors, the brightest hope of Silicon Valley's nascent clean-automotive industry, has only $9 million in the bank, a longtime employee tells us. The company, which recently laid off dozens of employees and announced the closing of its Detroit office, called an all-hands meeting yesterday evening to inform employees of its financial state. What makes the company's low cash balance especially scary, our tipster says, is that the company has taken "multiple tens of millions" of dollars in deposits from customers — anywhere from $5,000 to $60,000 per vehicle — and has only delivered 50 of them. The obvious conclusion: Having already spent its customers' deposits, it may run out of money before it delivers the cars they have paid for. Here's the Tesla insider's report:

"As a longtime employee of Tesla Motors, yesterday was the worst day since i joined Tesla Motors four years ago. A company all-hands meeting was called yesterday evening and a simple six-page company financial model was communicated. I was shocked to learn that we only had ~$9 million in the bank.

The first few hundred cars have been paid full in cash when they booked their vehicles. The reservations following that required from $4,000 to $60,000 of deposit. We have over 1,200 reservations, which manes we've taken multiples of tens of millions of cash from our customers and have spent them all. Meanwhile, we only delivered less than 50 cars.

I actually talked a close friend of mine into putting down $60,000 for a Tesla Roadster. I cannot conscientiously be a bystander anymore and allow my company to deceive the public and defraud our dear customers. Our customers and the general public are the reason Tesla is so loved. The fact that they are being lied to is just wrong."

Owen Thomas, Valleywag

http://valleywag.com/5071621/tesla-motors-has-9-million-in-the-bank-may-not-deliver-cars

 

[BlackICE]

Yikes! Similar cash management used by many custom or boutique auto shops. I can think of two of them that even worked on Fords before they folded or should have! :thumbsdow

I wonder did Arnold S. get his.

 

[Fubar]

Bah... 1qtr 2009

http://www.ronnmotors.com/cms/

 

[S592R]

Mark, Its a cool car ... hope it makes it out of the chute. I'd be interested in getting one if it tested out well post production.

Too bad about Tesla, I just read an article in R&T that was pumping up the new four door car and said that they just hired a chief designer away from Mazda.

Who knows.... only time will tell.

 

[djs]

From Bloomberg:

Tesla to Raise $40 Million in Convertible Debt Offer (Update1)

By Alan Ohnsman

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Tesla Motors Inc., a maker of luxury electric sports cars, is raising $40 million in a private convertible debt offering after slumping equity markets scuttled plans for an initial share sale.

Most of Tesla's current large investors have committed to the fundraising, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said in an interview late yesterday. Musk, Tesla's main backer with $55 million of his own money tied up, said he's also investing more in the San Carlos, California-based company.

``It's a significant further commitment,'' said Musk, 37, without elaborating. ``We do feel this funding will take us to cash flow break-even. I'm hoping that will be by mid-2009.''

Closely held Tesla, pinched by the global financial crisis, cut its full-time workforce by 24 percent in October and said it will have a one-year delay to 2011 of its second model, a $60,000 sedan. Musk said the share sale that might have come as soon as this year is now scrubbed, with no new timetable.

``This is maybe the worst financial environment since the Great Depression,'' said Musk, who received almost $300 million from public offerings of online companies PayPal and Zip2 Corp.

Previous private funding rounds have raised $147 million, said Rachel Konrad, a spokeswoman. Investors include Google Inc. founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and California-based venture funds Vantage Point and JP Morgan Bay Area Equity Fund.

$109,000 Sports Car

Tesla has delivered 50 of its $109,000 Roadsters to customers this year. Weekly production is now at 10 vehicles, and Tesla has set a goal of tripling that output by early next year. Tesla said it has orders for more than 1,200 cars from customers in the U.S. and Europe.

Roadster sales may be expanded to Asia in 2009, Musk said, naming Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore and Hong Kong as potential markets.

Tesla's Roadster is produced at Group Lotus Plc's factory in Hethel, England. Final assembly takes place in San Carlos, where Tesla builds and installs the car's lithium-ion battery packs.

The Roadster can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles (97 kilometers) per hour in 3.9 seconds, Tesla says. The car can travel as far as 244 miles on a single charge.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at aohnsman@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 3, 2008 13:13 EST