Autoblog

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.

[Source: AutoblogGreen]

Late Friday evening, Tesla Motors issued a brief statement that company founder Martin Eberhard was transitioning from his management role as President to the company's advisory board. This announcement came barely a day after the announcement that Ze'ev Drori had been tapped to be the new CEO, taking the reins from interim boss Michael Marks. Drori is now also taking up Eberhard's title as President.

After the announcement it became clear that Eberhard did not relinquish his duties voluntarily. He is no longer even on the board of directors and the advisory board gig is at best ceremonial. The company isn't saying much, but in a posting on the Tesla Motors Club message board, Eberhard made it clear that it wasn't his choice to leave the company. A number of executives have apparently left the company in recent months as engineers have struggled to overcome transmission problems that have delayed the production launch of the Roadster. At the same time that they are trying to get their electric sports car into production, engineers are trying to finalize the specifications of their next product: the "WhiteStar" sedan.

While people are moving in and out of offices in San Carlos, Tesla is planning to have its first media drives with the print publications this week, while us on-line types will have to wait a few more weeks for our turn at the wheel.

[Source: Tesla Motors, Tesla Motors Club, via AutoblogGreen]

click above image for a high-res gallery of the Tesla Roadster

Anyone familiar with English B-roads can understand why classic British sports cars evolved the way they did. These roads rarely seem to go in a straight line for more than a few yards at a time and are narrow with little or no runoff area. As a result, cars that came out of Morris Garages and Colin Chapman's shop were generally small, light and extremely nimble. They didn't have a lot of power, but when you follow Chapman's creed of "Add Lightness!", you don't really need a whole lot of power.

Some years after Chapman's death, the engineers at Lotus returned to the company's roots and created a small, lightweight minimalist descendant to the old Seven in the form of the Elise. Fast forward to this decade and a search for a small, quick sportster in the classic British mode, but with no emissions. Since none existed, Martin Eberhard and Elon Musk launched a company to create one, and Tesla Motors was born. AutoblogGreen experienced a short burst in the car on a runway when it debuted this past year, but that's like riding a horse at the petting zoo. You need to bareback that thoroughbred out on the plains to see what it's really like. We still haven't gotten behind the wheel, but are promised some wheel-time right after those old school print guys, which means we'll hopefully get to publish our review before they have a chance to print theirs. But we did get to experience the Roadster in perhaps the best American analog to an English B-road: storming up a California canyon road. For a full, drooling report on the experience, head over to AutoblogGreen and don't forget to check out the in-car video, as well.

[Source: AutoblogGreen]

Gallery: Riding in the Tesla Roadster