World Auto News & Reviews

Proof doesn’t come much better than this: A European Tesla owner racked up 100,000 kilometers (around 62,000 miles) on his Tesla Roadster, making it the highest-mile EV ever for the California upstart.
The Roadster was the 83rd delivered in Europe, where it ended up in Hansjörg von Gemmingen’s Karlsruhe, Germany garage.

von Gemmingen, a stockbroker, uses the Roadster for virtually all of his driving, which explains the high mileage for a Roadster that is less than two years old. He has gone as far as ensuring that his 82-year-old grandmother has a 240-volt charging station at her house.

It has been a long journey, but it looks like the Tesla Model S all-electric sport sedan is one step closer to series production as the California-based automaker announced it is moving on to the final road tests. The first phase called Alpha, which began in 2010, includes both computer simulations and test-drives of prototype vehicles. There will be a Beta phase as well.

Tesla has reported its first earnings statement as a public company and, not surprisingly, the numbers don’t exactly paint a rosy portrait. The company announced that while it managed to bring in revenue around $28.4 million, it lost $38.5 million. That loss marks the second such dip in earnings for the company this year, though analysts are saying that the drop in cash flow is to be expected. The company just handed over $42 million to purchase a manufacturing facility for the Model S, and odds are the company will continue to funnel money into the structure as we get closer to the EV sedan’s production date.

U.S. electric car maker Tesla says it will be introducing an all-electric crossover utility vehicle in 2013.

Looking to expand its model lineup beyond the current Tesla Roadster and the upcoming Model S sedan, set for launch in 2012, Tesla is developing electric car products clearly aimed at a mass market.

But the Palo Alto, California-based Tesla Motors may not be as ambitious as they seem at first sight.

An historic round-the-world tour in a zero-emission car will come to Zurich on Saturday – the first stop in a 37,000-kilometer voyage by Tesla Motors and avant-garde watchmaker TAG Heuer.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and TAG Heuer President and CEO Jean-Christophe Babin kicked off the “Odyssey of Pioneers” March 18 at a star-studded event in Baselworld for TAG Heuer’s 150^th anniversary. The car will travel to 15 major cities and more than 150 smaller towns before concluding in Paris in October at another celebrity gala.

The Odyssey of Pioneers centers around the 2010 TAG Heuer Tesla Roadster – a one-of-a-kind collector’s car incorporating TAG Heuer styling and design elements, a unique concept watch and TAG Heuer timepieces. The zero-emissions car will depart Basel March 20 and travel in a convoy with about 20 Swiss owners to Zurich’s spectacular Dolder Grand, the first stop of the tour.