MGW-Fla

My son & I were in a high end body shop 6-7 years ago that was working on his Roush Mustang; the owner was showing us a Merc SLR they were working on, same great silver color as the one shown earlier. He was quoting us the cost of the parts which were unbelievable to comprehend to me. Those wheels were $8k each; the hood was $36k; the small carbon fiber tray the headlights sit on were $1200 each! I remember he told us the owner of the car ran an insurance company, so I assumed he had really good coverage!

tv

The performance is incredible and they look great (for a sedan), though have not seen 1 in person yet here in the southeast. But the story is cool and it will be great for the country and for ICE classic car owners.

WallyP

Amazingly, Consumer Reports raved about the Tesla...

dr bob

5x120? Fits my Honda... need to find out if I can machine the center holes on BMW wheels so they pilot on the Pilot hubs.

The turbine blade wheels, takes just the right body shape to pull it off. Like short shorts over chubby thighs...

James Bailey

Tesla is a very interesting company..."According to an article from the LA Times, Tesla, which is reportedly on pace to sell 20,000 vehicles in 2013, receives as much as $35,000 in environmental credits from California for each Model S it sells. These credits can then be sold to other automakers that do business in the state but don't sell zero-emission vehicles of their own. Some experts believe Tesla could earn up to $250 million from such ZEV credits.

While profits from ZEV credits equals good news for Tesla, some experts and rival automakers aren't very pleased with California's strong-arm tactics when it comes to the sales of electric vehicles. "At the end of the day, other carmakers are subsidizing Tesla," said Thilo Koslowski, an analyst at Gartner Inc......
Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, counters by saying, "We are in the air pollution business, not the car business... "

tv

Details here in this article -- http://seekingalpha.com/article/1423...ce=google_news

Bottom line, by the end of this year they will be very profitable with or without the ZEV credits and onward to releasing future models including Musk's real target of a version for the masses in 2015 or so. If the aluminum-air batteries live up to their promise it will revolutionize society for the better. This is great for everyone I hope they sell like hotcakes!

inactiveuser1

Stock price shows it too as it went from 52week low of 25 to mid 70's
What price to buy it at after a good run up is the question.
Wheels look like blades from an EDF maybe thats why the look.
On the wheels,some are going to like the wheels others not,buy what style you like.

Randy V

Actually not that ironic for the Tesla story.

After getting backstabbed by Edison, Tesla partnered with George Westinghouse by giving him the AC patents, who went on to win the contract for the Niagara Falls turbine power plant, that used Tesla's AC current system for the motors powered by hydro turbines and to distribute the power.

JP Morgan, having originally backed Edison's DC current system at a huge financial cost, ultimately saw that AC was superior.

He then forced Westinghouse to sell him a majority share in his company, as Westinghouse was on the verge of bankruptcy due to the massive cost of installing the Niagara power system.

It's a great American story, that ends sadly with Tesla ultimately dying a broken man, penniless.

mark kibort

True, but he does have a cool name!

I think i want one of those model S 's.

MK

BC

Which somehow in popular culture got translated to "He didn't make money from his work and gave it away for free"

dr bob

JP Morgan was playing both sides against the middle. He underwrote Edison, who spent most of his later years trying to protect patents. Tesla had jumped to Westinghouse after quitting Edison's group after Edison allegedly failed to make good on revenue-sharing for Tesla's inventions and developments. Westinghouse 'bought' the Niagara generation project after his public success at the Columbia Exposition. Morgan bankrupted the project by delaying delivery of needed equipment, forcing Tesla to waive his fees for use of his patents. Westinghouse went bk anyway, allowing Morgan to own 51% and functional control of Tesla's IP. He walked away mad, and pretty much gave big fu to American capitalism. He was being investigated at the time of his passing, since he'd invented the Radar concept, but had Serbian heritage.

Good thing we didn't make the same mistakes with Einstein and Von Braun...