Tesla unveils electric sedan with sky-high hopes

March 26, 2009 | Camille Ricketts | Comments | |

Tesla Motors, still one of the major players in the electric vehicle game despite recent financial woes, has finally unveiled its hotly anticipated Model S sedan, slated to go on sale in late 2011. With a price tag of $50,000, the car is certainly more practical for prospective buyers than Tesla’s first submission — its $109,000 roadster (beautiful, but unrealistic in today’s economy). The San Carlos, Calif. company has clearly pinned its hopes on this new car to stabilize its finances and catapult it over its growing competition.

With Fisker Automotive countering it in the electric luxury car market (and just sealing a deal to sell cars on Tesla’s turf in Sunnyvale), and General Motors, Toyota, Nissan and other industry big boys planning to roll out everyday driving machines of their own, Tesla is finding itself surrounded on all sides after once leading the pack. In the next couple of years, the landscape will probably change radically, with all of these companies’ success depending on the development of electric car infrastructure, gas prices and the state of the economy.

The more recent news on this topic is that Digg founder Kevin Rose has leaked several photos of the Model S before its official debut in Los Angeles.

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About the Author, Camille Ricketts

Camille is the lead writer for GreenBeat. She came to VentureBeat from Google where she worked on its traditional platforms team, particularly in TV. Before that, she was a reporter for the Wall Street Journal in New York and London. Follow her on Twitter at @camillericketts, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.

With GreenBeat 2009, VentureBeat's all-star conference on all things Smart Grid, coming up in November, Camille will be expanding coverage of this exciting space. Stay up to date by following @greenbeat2009 on Twitter or by becoming a fan of the event on Facebook here.

  • Wow this is really beautiful. What I like most about Electric vehicles is that it shows lower depreciation rate rather than any normal gasoline cars.
  • I really like the designs of Tesla, they are all unique. And one thing which is good is that it is hybrid which we all now that can save a lot of money and also can help the environment.