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, Tesla will continue to expand into other countries and continents like Australia and Asia. Customers in 23 countries have now taken delivery of their Roadster – the first Roadsters being delivered to customers in Spain and Ireland last month.
It is great that Tesla has secured this production increase, but it still a tricky situation. Everything needs to work like clockwork going forward.
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