Car Throttle

Last week, we were out of town and had the opportunity to stop in at Tesla Silicon Valley in Menlo Park, California. This dealer is where a lot of Tesla sales take place, in the heart of California's tech industry and Tesla's backyard. It just so happened that the updated Roadster 2.5 was recently announced and on display at the dealer. The cars on display had already been sold, and there was a customer in the dealer in the process of a purchase. The particular model we saw on display was a Roadster Sport 2.5 in Simply Orange. It looked extremely good with the carbon fiber accents, and we loved the orange color. The updates for the 2.5 versus the 2.0 are subtle, but improve the look.

Have you ever noticed an ongoing trend occurring in the motoring world today? Right now car manufacturers around the world seem to be pretty worked up about trying to save planet Earth by producing electric cars and hybrids. Even sports cars like the Tesla Roadster pictured above have started to make themselves known and have found buyers. I suppose this is what happens when they get caught up in the hype caused by concepts like global warming, the supposedly shrinking supply of oil worldwide and people suddenly thinking that they are actually contributing to the facts stated before this. I personally have no interest in hybrids and electric powered vehicles and I would like to tell you why. Let's start with those pesky hybrids first. So

At the Geneva International Motor Show, Tesla debuted a special TAG Heuer Roadster. The car has special markings and a its "Foucault Field Gray" color, along with an interior that has a specially-designed console to fit in with a special (you guessed it) Tag Heuer watch. We know, the stuff dreams are made of. Apparently the car was coordinated around the Swiss watchmaker's 150th anniversary, and to celebrate that, the TAG Heuer Tesla Roadster is embarking on a 12,000-mile world tour called the "Odyssey of Pioneers." Leonardo DiCaprio, one of the first Roadster owners and an "official TAG Heuer Ambassador" began the tour along with Tesla's CEO Elon Musk and TAG Heuer's CEO Jean-Christophe Babin. Check out the dates for the tour below, beginning in Monaco this month and

In January, it was discovered in a SEC filing for an IPO that Tesla would stop selling the Roadster, due to tooling changes at the Lotus plant in Hethel, England where it is built. The Roadster's production was contracted out to Lotus, and it shares some components with the Elise. The announcement was unplanned, and would have left Tesla with no vehicles to sell until the Model S comes into production. That is a dangerous position to be in, but it looks like Tesla has worked something out. The latest update broke in Tesla's March newsletter, where Tesla says that, "responding to customer demand" agreements with suppliers have been negotiated, increasing Roadster production by 40% in order to extend sales into 2012. With those agreements in place,

I sort of like the Tesla Roadster. As a matter of fact, I'd love it if it didn't cost over a hundred thousand dollars. I love the environment and this planet, and I think we should be doing everything we can to minimize our impact on it, but if you were to give me 100K to go buy a car with, I would not be ringing up the Tesla dealer ... for that kind of scratch, I could get a very nice used Ferrari. But I digress. What we have here is a Tesla Roadster (and I have to quibble with that name, because it's not a roadster, now is it?), which is billed as " The Most Expensive Tesla Roadster In The World" How so?

Back in the old days, doctors used to make house calls routinely. But what about house calls for your car? With the Mobile Service Rangers those days could just be beginning, at least for Tesla owners. The new program is designed to offer Roadster owners peace of mind about getting their Roadsters repaired. Tesla Mobile Service Rangers can visit the Roadster where ever it is- owners’ homes, offices or parking garages and they are equipped to perform an array of procedures like annual inspections and firmware upgrades. The service isn't inexpensive - Tesla customers pay $1 per roundtrip mile from the nearest Tesla service center, with a minimum charge of $100. Tesla offers the example of a Tesla owner in Portland, Oregon paying $350 for a visit

As part of the global expansion it is undertaking, Tesla Motors made an appearance at the Frankfurt Auto Show, and a big one at that! There has been a lot of introductions happening, but some big news happened on the business side of things there well. There's not a whole lot of information about the whole deal as of yet, but apparently equity investment company Fjord Capital Management has invested $82.5 million in Tesla. That's no small bit of cash, and it comes on the heels of a recent string of positive news for Tesla - DOE government loan approval for the Model S, worldwide real store openings and hitting the goal of profitability for the first time. If you remember, the outlook for Tesla last year

Have you ever heard of Lightning Motor Company? If you haven't, let me give you a little history. Lightning is a British company working to bring to market a high-performance GT sports car. They have followed Tesla's business plan for bringing electric vehicles to market very similarly; produce an expensive, high-end sports car first and then follow with other models later.  Before now though, we never were sure of the company's exact intention for the future though. With a name like Lightning, you might think they intended to remain a sports car-only company. Not so! While the actual car hasn't gone into production, in many ways they have moved at a quicker pace than Tesla. Tesla has been around for a few years and seen quite a

Tesla is expanding! In more ways than one. The company has plans to open four new stores in the United States, as well as opening dealers internationally. Tesla has an unique way of selling it's vehicles that seems to be working out quite well for them. Each Tesla dealer is company owned and operated, which means they have the final say and control over everything. They set the prices, hire the salespeople, etc. There's nearly no downside to the "retail outlet" method for a high-end manufacturer like Tesla. The flagship store for Tesla's European foray is just being opened in London, a 5,000 sq. feet showroom in the high-end Knightsbridge district, not too far from the Heathrow Airport. Other planned European locations include stores in Monaco, Munich (home to

Tesla Motors has been scoring some big successes lately. From the excellent Model S unveiling and subsequently large order list, to the Daimler investment and now even more success in delivering the Roadster. Tesla's goal after the last funding round was to ramp up production significantly so that profitability on the cars could be reached by mid-summer. From the comments made by CEO Elon Musk and the clip of Roadster deliveries, they look on track to hit that goal. To that end, Tesla has delivered it's 500th Roadster. This a big milestone for the company and the electric car industry. Some speculated whether the car would ever even to make it to production at all, especially with the delays and financial troubles that plagued the company. Owner of the 500th Roadster is