Breaking: Tesla marketing boss Michael van der Sande resigns

Tesla Motors spokeswoman Rachel Konrad has just confirmed a rumor that popped up on the Tesla Motors Club forum that Michael van der Sande has resigned. van der Sande was senior vice president for marketing and succeeded Darryl Siry in that job last December.Prior to his work for Tesla, van der Sande was an international marketing executive at Harley-Davidson. According to Konrad, van der Sande is leaving for personal reasons and she declined any further comment on the matter.
Tesla hired van der Sande in part because of his international experience as the company was attempting to expand its customer base beyond the U.S. The company recently opened its store outside the U.S. in London. Until recently, all indications were that net sales of the Roadster had stalled. While Tesla claims that it is selling more Roadsters, as of early July, the company was still reporting total sales of about 1,300, the same number it had in fall 2008. Konrad tells ABG:

"July was our best month in the past six months -- both for Roadster deliveries AND new Roadster sales. July also marked our first corporate net profitability month ever. "

Initial pre-orders for the five-door Model S have reportedly been brisk, with somewhere over 5,000 1,000 deposits so far.

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[Source: Tesla Motors Club]

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