Daily Auto News Tesla Preparing Model S Electric Sedan with Imaginary Government Funding
Daily Auto News
Tesla motors, the California start-up that brought us the absurdly fast, zero-emissions electric Tesla Roadster, has a four-door car up its sleeve. The company also claims to have Department of Energy funding. Or maybe it doesn’t.
Jalopnik explains, “Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk sent an announcement-filled email to customers today, including a March 26th date for the Tesla Model S reveal, a profitability promise, new stores and a curious statement about government funding. This latest announcement brings news of the Tesla Model S, the company’s long-planned affordable electric sedan, which will get a prototype rollout on March 26th.”
The Model S, according to Tesla, will be a four-door electric car with a projected price around $60,000. “Helping keep the development, and therefore final, cost of the Model S down,” Jalopnik notes, “Musk announced some funds from the company’s $350 million loan request to the Department of Energy to be released in the next six months.”
Minutes later, those of us on Tesla’s email list receive a…well…a correction from the company’s Public Relations staff. It read, in part, “I important to note that we have NOT received final confirmation from the DOE that we will receive funds. None of the 75 applications have received final approval. However, we are in the later stages of the loan application process, where the DOE is evaluating Tesla’s financial viability and technical merits.”
And that “financial viability” evaluation could be tough. ValleyWag notes, “In fact, Tesla is far from profitable. Tesla has already raised prices on existing orders for the company’s $109,000 all-electric Tesla Roadster, an admittedly nifty car which accelerates from 0 to 60 miles per hour in four seconds or less. Musk justified the move by claiming the company wasn’t making a profit on current orders.” The company is reportedly down to less than $9 million in cash, and pays “$36 million in annual staff costs alone.”
If Tesla did win access to a government loan, the Kansas City Star reports, “The funds would go toward building a factory to produce its Model S four-door sedan, which will go on sale in 2011.”
We hope to see the rollout on March 26, but at this point, we’re skeptical.
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