Martin Eberhard first conceived of what ultimately became Tesla Motors and the Tesla Roadster when he couldn't get AC Propulsion to build him a TZero. Since he wanted a battery-powered sports car, Eberhard set out to bring together a team that would build his dream car. Of course, it was always his intention to buy the first car for himself, but creating a car company from scratch is not a low budget proposition. Hence Eberhard had to bring in some investors to fund the program. PayPal founder Elon Musk came in big with a pile of cash in return for which he requested the first car. After some haggling, Eberhard agreed to take Roadster number 2 and things moved along.
As we now know, Tesla encountered some speed bumps along the way and production got delayed by many months. The first production model was completed in December 2007, and delivered to Musk in February. Series production officially kicked off on March 17 of this year with the car with serial number 2 starting down the line. That car destined for Eberhard has yet to leave the Lotus factory in England. Meanwhile two other cars have been completed and one has been delivered to a customer in the U.S. while the other has been touring Europe for the last couple of weeks. Needless to say, Martin Eberhard is not pleased about other people getting their Roadsters before him. The problem is that automotive build sequences are a very complicated matter, which are only made worse when you blend big egos into the mix. The matter comes down to the difference between what the VIN numbers say and which cars we're actually built when. AutoblogGreen has a detailed report on what was "promised" to Eberhard, and what is being delivered, including documents provided by Eberhard.
Michael Corleone said it best, "It's not personal, it's business." There's been a lot of turmoil in the Silicon Valley hills lately as the Tesla Motors saga continues. Departed founder Martin Eberhard reports on his blog at TeslaFounders.com that the reorganization has been a "bloodbath" and questions the wisdom of the corporate machinations. Tesla's Daryl Siry contends that the company needed to tighten up its organization and refocus on the goal of actually delivering cars versus burning investment dollars. It's a lot like what went on in the nascent personal computer industry 30 years ago: a passionate team of visionaries assembles around a common ideal, and eventually it becomes a business, at which point pain ensues prior to success, or failure occurs. Tesla intends to remain independent, and now wants to move forward with solving delivery holdups.
Tesla Motors has been operating with an interim CEO since last August when its founder, Martin Eberhard, stepped down as head of the company. Today the start up that promises to herald in a new era of EV motoring (if it can stay on schedule) announced the appointment of a permanent replacement. Ze'ev Drori will now be at the helm of Tesla Motors as it tries to guide the Tesla Roadster through the production process. Drori has a history of turning around small companies, having founded a computer chip company called Monolithic Memories and later running Clifford Electronics, an automobile security system company, until it was bought by Allstate Insurance in 1999.
We've always wondered whether that's been the plan for Tesla Motors all along: get the all-electric Tesla Roadster to market, build the brand and sell the technology to the major automaker with the highest bid. Bringing on a guy like Drori lends some credibility to that hypothesis, though it's just as likely Tesla plans to remain independent as it builds an entire lineup of all-electric vehicles in the coming years.
News of Tesla's co-founder and CEO Martin Eberhard stepping down has been making the rounds in both automotive andtech circles all morning. The gist is that Eberhard will become Tesla's President of Technology so he can stay hands on with the all-electric Tesla Roadster's development, while a man by the name of Michael Marks, formers CEO of a company called Flextronics and one of Tesla's investors, will become interim CEO while a permanent replacement for Eberhard is found.
From the reports we've been reading, it makes it sound like Tesla's in turmoil over this management shakeup, with some outlets claiming the executive shuffle will cause additional multi-month delays in the first deliveries of the Tesla Roadster to customers. We have no reason to believe that is the case, and thanks to Sam Abuelsamid over at AutoblogGreen who was able to speak with someone at the company, it appears that Eberhard had been planning to step down for some time, as the day-to-day operation of running a big company was keeping him away from the Tesla Roadster's development. Tesla's Vice President of Marking Darryl Siry told ABG the move is much like what happened at Google when founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin brought in Eric Schmidt to run the show so they could focus on other projects. So it appears that despite some reports you may read, Tesla is not in turmoil and Eberhard's relocation within the company is just one more step on the company's roadmap to producing what promises to be a landmark vehicle.
Reports came out yesterday that Tesla Motors had sold out its first batch of 100 Signature models, which retail at a price of between $80,000 and $120,000. It's not surprising to us that Martin Eberhard, Elon Musk and company succeeded in selling their first 100 cars. Musk, the company's chairman, told AutoblogGreen that after the car's introduction on July 19th, "We have 100 collector's edition cars for sale that require a $100,000 up front deposit for purchase and only a few units are left." So it took them a few weeks to unload the remaining that weren't sold at the unveiling, but as Engadget notes, Tesla Motors just raised $10 million in capital in less than a month. CNET reports that only a few cars have actually been built so far and there's no word from Tesla Motors on when the next wave of orders will be announced.
AutoblogGreen's intrepid editor, Sebastian Blanco, was a busy man last night at the unveiling of the Tesla Roadster in Santa Monica, CA. Check out our exclusive video (iPod format) of the unveiling that features interviews with Tesla Motors CEO Martin Eberhard and the company's chairman Elon Musk, as well as footage of the car in motion from both inside and outside the cockpit.
Last night Tesla Motors unveiled their uber-chic Roadster, a powerful electric vehicle that looks, feels and drives like many other high-end sports cars. The main difference is the noise. Powered by a 3-phase, 4-pole AC induction motor, the Roadster can go 130 mph and does 0-60 in about 4 seconds, all completely silent.
Tonight was the grand unveiling of the Roadster in a decorated airport hangar in Santa Monica, CA. I don't ride in many sports cars, and I certainly have never been in one that zips across an airport's tarmac without so much as a whisper. But tonight I got a quick ride in the Roadster and all I could hear from the passenger's seat (not even Gov. Schwarzenegger, who flew in for a brief look at the car, was allowed to drive it) was wind noise. And myself saying "Wow" under my breath.
Click on any image to enlarge.
Check out the rest of Sebastian's report, a gallery of LIVE and OFFICIAL pics, and Tesla's press release with full specs after the jump.
That didn't take long. Despite the embargo on publishing Tesla material until 12:00 AM EST, the dam has broken and information and images of the Tesla Roadster have flooded the internet tonight. We'll credit Wired for starting the deluge, as this gallery of live images has been online for a while now.
You may notice how much the Tesla Roaster look like a Lotus Elise. If you read Wired's article on the Tesla, you'll learn that a Lotus designer penned the Tesla Roadster's shape and that the English sportscar maker will be the one assembling Martin Eberhard's baby. As a matter of fact, Tesla Motors hired away so many Lotus engineers and executives that it was forced to sign a "no-poaching agreement" if it wanted the British-based automaker to build its cars.
As mentioned earlier, we'll have information, images and video from the Tesla unveiling later tonight.
We're always wondered if that guy in the comments who goes by the name of "Willy Ford" is the actual scion of Henry Ford himself and CEO of Ford Motor Company, Bill Ford. Probably not, but some CEOs do actively participate in the Autoblog community, like Martin Eberhard, CEO of Tesla Motors. Eberhard must be a busy guy, as the countdown timer on Tesla Motors' website shows only 1 day, 8 hours, 59 minutes and 2 seconds left before the all-EV Tesla Roadster debuts (at the time of this writing), but he's sacrificed some precious ticks of the clock to participate in an outstanding discussion in the comments of our most recent post on Tesla.
We applaud Mr. Eberhard for stepping out, getting his message to the people and interacting openly with... well... his customers. And the dialogue between Eberhard, "Charles S." and "doable" in the comments is a fantastic debate on the efficacy of electric vehicles.
News of Tesla's co-founder and CEO Martin Eberhard stepping down has been making the rounds in both automotive and 
Follow the Audi Mileage Marathon starting Monday morning
Paris 2008: MINI Crossover Concept
Paris 2008: Aston Martin One-77 (partially) revealed
Paris 2008: The GT by Citroen. No, the whole thing this time
Paris 2008: Lamborghini Estoque LIVE
In the Autoblog Garage: 2008 Chevy Corvette Z06
Autoline on Autoblog with John McElroy
Paris 2008: Le Day 1 Wrapup
Knight Rider: The Liveblog -- Season 1, Episode 2
By the Numbers - September 2008: Nobody Wins Edition
