Tesla Will Discontinue the Roadster

Attila Dimedici writes "Tesla has announced that their business model has failed. Their basic idea was to sell a boutique electric car to fund the development of a regular consumer electric car. With this announcement they are saying that they did not sell enough of the Roadster to make producing it profitable. If that is the case, it is only a matter of time until Tesla closes its doors. I thought their approach was the most likely to create a successful fully electric car. Although it is possible that the technology they have developed will allow the existing car companies to develop successful fully electric cars, it is a shame that Tesla has failed to become a successful car manufacturer." CT: As a huge number of you pointed out, the linked article is not nearly as doom and gloom as the submitter: Tesla isn't locking the doors and throwing away the keys, they plan on selling a $80k sedan in 2012 with a 300 mile range.

How did you come to that conclusion?

[damn_registrars]

The statement

it is a shame that Tesla has failed

Doesn't make any sense if you read the linked article.

From TFA:

Tesla Motors (TSLA) will stop taking orders for the car in the U.S. in about two months as the carmaker focuses on its Model S electric sedan

Further:

the two seat Tesla Roadster sports car was never intended to be a huge seller. Tesla reported sales of 1,650 Roadsters worldwide by the end of April, 2011.

And

Tesla's next big thing: Tesla's roadster production is coming to halt as the maker of battery-powered cars switches its focus to the upcoming Model S electric sedan.

There is absolutely no indication in the provided article that Tesla is going away. They are just stopping the roadster so they can focus on a new car, which was part of their long-term plan some time ago.

In other words, things are going as planned for Tesla. People claiming this is the end of the company are just spouting FUD for whatever reason.

Dimdeici is jumping to conclusions

[Anonymous Coward]

The article says they they are focusing on the Model S, their new luxury sedan. He obviously didn't read the article that he linked.

Re:These guys are actually innovating

[Anonymous Coward]

The article says they're working on a sedan that costs less. I don't see any indication that Tesla is going out of business.

Summary is just plain wrong

[benjamin_scarlet]

The article says they're stopping production of the roadster to focus on the S. It says nothing about anything failing.

Re:These guys are actually innovating

[bre_dnd]

From TFA: Tesla's next big thing: Tesla's roadster production is coming to halt as the maker of battery-powered cars switches its focus to the upcoming Model S electric sedan. The first sales of the Model S sedan are expected to begin around the middle of 2012. At a starting price of about $58,000, the base model will have a driving range of 160 miles.

No need to worry yet

[damn_registrars]

Tesla is not closing or going away. Some idiot here at slashdot didn't bother to read the linked article. If they had, they would realize that this is not the end for Tesla as a company, just the end of a vehicle that was too expensive for many people to buy.

Furthermore, anyone who knows anything about Tesla knows that this has been part of their plan for some time. Build a roadster to get the technology working - and to show to the public that it really is as good as claimed - and then discontinue it to focus on a family sedan. Their first car achieved brand recognition and proof of concept, while bringing in investors. Now they are retooling and setting up a new shop to show that they can make it work on a larger scale.

Unfortunately, they have already sold out in part to a traditional auto maker, so how far they will be able to go unhindered is anyone's guess.

your chance is coming

[damn_registrars]

Now make a RegularCar, that I can buy for 75k, and I'll have one in the driveway tomorrow

The actual article - which sadly the slashdot editor apparently made no attempt whatsoever to read in any way, shape, or form - says that is exactly what they are working on next.

Actually, they'll do you one better. The Tesla model S (for sedan) will start at $58k. Some details are in the article; you can get a 300 mile range version for around $80k. If you look up information on it, you can find prototype pictures, it looks like a Jaguar XJ or XF sedan of the current generation.

However, there is a wait list. You won't have it tomorrow, but if you go put some money down, you can have one when one is ready for you.

Stock market disagrees with summary

[rcs1000]

Well: there's a surprise. Summary says: Tesla announces business model has failed and bankrupcy imminent.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Tesla's stock is up in an down market. The company is trading comfortably above its six month average price. The company, IIRC, always said that there would only be 2,500 Roadsters made...

Next year, the Model S will launch. The company has thousands of preorders, with people having put real money down.

The Model S may, of course, fail miserably. But the absurd FUD in the summary is ridiculous.

Re:How did you come to that conclusion?

[Bertie]

Seriously, who wrote it, Jeremy Clarkson? It just stinks of negative PR by somebody with an axe to grind. Slashdot should really be ashamed of itself for giving such a tirade of obviously biased bullshit such a wide audience.

No.. No.. No..

[LoveMuscle]

This was Tesla's plan for a while now, and the article says nothing about their business model failing. The cannot use the government funds they were given to develop a sports car, it must be used for the Model S. Also they based the Roadster on the Elise Chassis, and Lotus has quit making them. This isn't reddit or I'd down vote for the horrific summary. There is lots of info in their IPO filing, and elsewhere..

Also the basis of the business model for the Roadster was to smash the image of the electric car being a hippie-green eco-shitbox, which most electric car's to date have been. That was a resounding success.

http://www.teslamotors.com/about/press/releases/tesla-gets-loan-approval-us-department-energy [teslamotors.com]
http://www.allcarselectric.com/news/1042150_tesla-roadster-production-to-end-in-2011-new-version-expected-in-2013 [allcarselectric.com]

#740..

Re:These guys are actually innovating

[Pope]

The Lotus Elise, which closely resembles and was the initial test mule for the Roadster, costs around 40k US, and that's a standard gasoline engine. How the hell would Tesla get their tech anywhere near 30k?

Re:No need to worry yet

[dave562]

Furthermore, anyone who knows anything about Tesla knows that this has been part of their plan for some time.

You are 100% correct about this. A friend of mine went to work for Tesla about a year ago. He was telling about all of the planning that they were doing to shift their production from the roadster to the sedan.

Above and beyond that, Tesla has a lot of patents. They have the best batteries in the industry. Tesla is a long way from going out of business. If anything their biggest concern is probably trying to figure out how to not get gobbled up by another company who just wants their intellectual property.

Re:No need to worry yet

[Nethemas the Great]

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the roadster's sales. It was the supply side that had issues. There has never not been a waiting list to get one of those things. The problem was that they cannot keep up with demand. They might be priced outside the reach of the average middle-class American but that never hindered sales. A 6 month wait list hindered sales.

Re:These guys are actually innovating

[Andy Dodd]

Yes - I don't see how this article indicates that the business model has failed at all. I think, if anything, it has succeeded wildly - my guess is that the Roadster was likely less of a "fundraiser" than as a "halo car" for marketing. If you want to sell your tech to potential partners (Their partners list includes Daimler and Toyota) it helps a LOT to have a widely recognized vehicle.

A lot of times "halo cars" fail - but for Tesla it seems to have succeeded. They now have partnerships with major automotive manufacturers to license their tech. (Toyota RAV4 EV, SMART EV, Mercedes A-Class E-Cell).

Re:These guys are actually innovating

[Sensible Clod]

Tesla's Roadsters are built on a Lotus chassis. Since Lotus is discontinuing that model, Tesla won't be able to make more Roadsters. It really is that simple.

Re:Regular cars are not 75K

[timeOday]

It's rumored that Toyota and Honda have been selling their hybrids at a loss, mainly to keep their CAFE average in conformance as they were selling more SUVs

I will see your a rumor and raise you a cite [autoblog.com]:

According to the Japanese newspaper Nikkei (via Green Car Congress), each hybrid that Honda and Toyota sell earns the respective company about $3,100 in profit.

In fact Toyota has been meeting this persistent rumor with the same answer - they are turning a profit on the Prius - since 2002 [autotrader.co.uk].