Tesla deal with Toyota is 'not formal,' $50m investment dependent on IPO
By Donald Melanson 
posted May 29th 2010 4:27AM
posted May 29th 2010 4:27AM
posted May 29th 2010 4:27AM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
of coarse, 2012 is too late... http://marklhitchcock.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/2012-Doomsday1.jpg
@keanu096
did you really need a picture for that?
@weirdo557
why not? added affect...
@keanu096
downranked for stupid picture
That's $49,900 after tax breaks and credits, before those discounts, it will run ~$58,000 stock.
@10nisman94 That is incorrect. From Tesla's site- "$49,900 for Model S includes $7,500 US federal tax credit." So, 49000 + 7500 = 56500.
Oh crap didn't know Tesla was having an IPO. I better get a loan ready for this..
@Becauseitsnotgoogle2 what happened to Becauseitsnotgoogle? Was he banned? It was probably for a reason. Get off the tubz man, you sound like you need some sun.
On topic: they have investment from Daimler AND a conditional one from Toyota, are those two companies not financially sustainable enough for you? Point is they are the only ones to get actual cars to market. That's something.
"closed Toyota plant in San Francisco" Who ever is doing the reporting here is so wrong the plant is in Fremont Ca. not San Francisco.
@LaZARuZ Yup. While NUMMI isn't in "San Francisco", I bet they meant San Francisco Bay Area.
@LaZARuZ Yea I'm pretty sure he really meant SF area. Kind of like how most Norcal people refer to all of Socal as "LA".
@P00kienrayray
Anything South of Bakersfield and North of Oceanside is LA...
People seem to doubt the reality of a mid to high price auto company. Yet India and China are buying SUV's and 8 cylinder cars like there is no tomorrow. The economic mainstream today is not what it was many years ago.
Not to mention we live in a world were people buy electronics based on social vanity, I have it and you don't, as much as they buy it for the actual product. In addition to that there is a growing percentage of people who love electric cars for their environmental benefit. Seems like a higher ratio of mid to high class, over done vanity with relation to consumption, and green being hipster.... I'm pretty sure Tesla is sustainable for a good while.
The only question would be, technologies ability to advance rapidly. Tesla seems to stay on top of such matters. Not to mention they seem to read the consumer well and deliver they want.
Hmm 50k that very cheap here in Denmark, with a bit of luck it will get it to the market before EVs are hit by the full Danish tax, of 225%.
Just a shame that it is made in the US, quality cant be good :( Just which it would be German instead
@Techtrino you're on crack if you think German cars are better quality than Americans. German cars are over complicated pieces of garbage. And they're not even more complicated to serve a purpose, its just to be complicated and unreliable. Have you seen tree quality awards given to Ford and GM last year and this year? Any German manufactures? Nope...
@JerzyIroc
Well you are right, the fords made in England are quite good, they have learned alot from Toyota.
But quality for me is more than reliability, it is the fell of the car etc, even a Cadillac feels cheap inside, with that terrible plastic. You dont have bottons that fall of by themself in e.g a Audi.
This car looks amazing.. I wish Toyota, Nissan, or Mazda would just buy them out, and mass produce these cars. Check out the official website, car is amazing.
I wonder what Toyota got out of the investment.. Probably significant stock options.
"What is officially happening, however, is Tesla's $42 million purchase of a closed Toyota plant in San Francisco"
That is the most significant part of the deal. With the NUMMI plant, the Model S becomes a reality. Another important aspect of the deal that should be emphasized is that Toyota's CEO was present at the Tesla announcement, this gives tremendous weight to the so call tentative deal. Perhaps Toyota sees this as an opportunity to rehabilitate its image in the US, either way Tesla is well on its way.
Toyota is going to let them pick up all the DoE subsidies while Tesla is still a small company, then when Tesla fails, Toyota can co
e along and buy them up.
@Becauseitsnotgoogle2
While they are just rebadged, lightened Lotus Elises with power packs you are still an asshole.
So whens the Engadget review of the Model S coming along?
If WW3 comes around the last thing you would want is an electric car...
Anyway like I wrote in another post ONLY CO2 engines will fix the fuel problem for good. Electricity simply pushes the pollution on to the power plant, witch is not a good idea, if the grid is down... no car!
@DrScope
Not if you have the sun on your side my friend.
@Tohe
Yep, lots of RAV4 EV owners are already doing this. There is also some work being done for vehicle 2 grid, which would make it a possibility of charging the car in the morning and using the energy at night, in case the grid goes down.
@jakey
You make another good point: Coal Plants work 24/7 (since it is inefficient to restart the plant), and most of the electricity they produce @ night goes to waste, given this fact, EVs could potentially be carbon neutral. In fact many of those Rav4 EV owners you mentioned, sell the electricity from their solar panels to the grid during the day, and buy back the electricity at a cheaper rate at night, when they charge their EVs.
@DrScope
I think we'll have other things to worry about if ww3 happens..
D'ja ever notice how "expected to run about $49,000" always turns out to be $79,000 when it appears?
The plant is not in San Francisco, it's in Fremont.
@fourthletter
Go away. Nobody likes you.