Tesla motors

Tesla motors cars - testdrive with the Tesla Roadster S - pure electric driving sound - interior - exterior - review - Many components have been adopted by the car Lotus Elise.
Performance of Tesla Roadster S model: top speed 201 km/h ( 125 mph ) electronically limited

In fact, in the first quarter of this year, more people bought a Tesla Model S than bought any of the similarly priced gasoline-powered cars from the top three German luxury brands, according to data from LMC Automotive. About 4,750 buyers bought a Model S while just over 3,000 people bought Mercedes' top-level sedan.

This is not a perfect comparison, of course. Actual selling prices for the Mercedes S-class sedan start toward the upper end of the Tesla Model S price range, according the the auto pricing Web site TrueCar.com, while prices for the other cars are at the lower end. And nobody gets a $7,500 federal tax credit for a buying an S-class or an A8. Also, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi each sell a full range of cars and SUVs while Tesla buyers have only one model to choose from.

Still, let's face it, Tesla (TSLA)'s one model is doing pretty well, especially for a start-up automaker with a limited dealer network.

Last week was a particularly stellar one.

On Wednesday, Tesla announced a profit that exceeded Wall Street estimates. It also raised its Model S sales estimates for this year from 20,000 to 21,000.

Then on Thursday Consumer Reports came out and called the Model S the best car that it had ever tested. (Its overall performance was "off the charts," according to the magazine's head of auto testing, but it only earned 99 out of a possible 100 points because it can't be driven extremely long distances without recharging.)

(Reuters) - Elon Musk, the chief executive of electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc, criticized the traditional way of selling cars in the United States and indicated the model would hamper the 10-year-old U.S. automaker's growth prospects.

Tesla is pushing to sell its Model S electric sedan directly to consumers rather than relying on a network of independent dealers. These efforts have met stiff resistance from dealer groups around the country.

"The auto dealers association is definitely creating some problems for us, making it harder to get things done," Musk said during Tesla's annual meeting on Tuesday.

The annual meeting comes after a string of positive news in the last month for Tesla, including its first-ever quarterly profit and a near-perfect score for the Model S from the influential Consumer Reports magazine.

As a result, Tesla shares have nearly tripled this year. On Tuesday, Musk said the company's gross margins could approach those of sports-car maker Porsche AG "over time."

Tesla is now beefing up its sales operations in anticipation of growing Model S sales. The company expects to have 50 stores by the end of the year, up from 34 during the first quarter.

Musk has said that traditional dealers may not be the best advocate for electric cars because they rely largely on gas-powered vehicles for revenue. Musk said Tuesday that consumers were broadly supportive of direct-to-consumer sales.

The announcement by Musk, 41, follows a series of events this month that put Tesla on the most secure financial footing since its founding a decade ago. The carmaker’s first quarterly profit was followed by a top rating from Consumer Reports for the Model S and a share-price surge. Investor demand created an opportunity to raise $1 billion from selling equity and debt and retire its U.S. Energy Department loan nine years early.

“Tesla’s role is kind of interesting: They’ve changed the whole story line” about electric vehicles, said Tom Turrentine, director of the California Energy Commission’s Plug-in Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Research Center at the University of California, Davis. “This is a company that thrives on mythology.”

Musk said May 20 that the supercharger network expansion announcement was pushed back to this week as the company focused on completing its Energy Department loan repayment.

“We’ll both be increasing the density and the scope of the network,” Musk said.

Every hour, there are an average of 17 automobile fires somewhere in the U.S., according to government data. Mechanical failure in internal combustion engines cause the majority, and burning cars filled with gasoline result in more than 200 deaths per year. Yet far more attention is being paid to one all-electric Tesla Model S that caught fire on October 1 after metallic debris pierced a module in its battery pack. The driver of the car walked away. A video of the fire went viral online this week.

Tesla Motors, caught in a lull between product launches, is going to try to keep the Model S electric car feeling fresh by improving upon it, CEO Elon Musk says.

Best of all for some current owners, some of the improvements will just show up without any effort on their part.

Tesla plans to automatically push software to the Model S fleet that will help the car learn the driver's habits and adjust to them. The navigation system will offer directions to locations that steer around traffic jams. Drivers will be able to name their car in the mobile app.

"There aren't many products that give people joy, and we want this to be one of those products," Musk told his shareholders at the annual meeting last week.

This year, Tesla is offering only the single model, the Model S that is EPA rated at up to 265 miles on a single charge, the most of any electric car. The company's next model won't come until next year, when the delayed Model X crossover goes on sale. Musk says the holdup has centered on making sure its signature design element, gullwing doors to make it easier to get in the rear, works properly and is leak-proof. "Getting the door right is extremely difficult," he says.

For those buying new Model S sedans, the car now comes with an underbody shield to protect against objects that might pierce the battery pack. "You can drive over a concrete block and be OK," Musk quipped. The additional shielding results from reported fires in two Teslas in the U.S. that struck objects. The drivers left the vehicles before the fires broke out.

The car now has optional power folding mirrors and sensors to keep the car from bumping into other cars or objects while parking.

Later this year, Musk says, Tesla will offer an upgraded driver's seat, addressing one of his pet peeves that the current one isn't comfortable enough. Tesla is also working on a self-driving feature for freeways that would work like automatic pilot on aircraft, although still requiring drivers to pay attention.

Musk says the electric fleet has now collectively traveled 344 million miles — and it has yet to record a single "serious permanent injury" or death in an accident. "That is certainly one of our proudest accomplishments," he adds.