Electric car maker Tesla says it's profitable

[Eugene]

Source: USA Today

Electric car maker Tesla says it's profitable

Chris Woodyard, USA TODAY 9:47a.m. EDT April 1, 2013

Tesla Motors says its electric sedan sales have exceeded the guidance it laid out two months ago and it expects to show a profit in the first quarter, a big victory for small high-tech automaker.

But customers who want to try to jump on the bandwagon to own one of the chic electric cars on the cheap may be in for a disappointment.

The electric car maker has announced that it's not going to offer its cheapest version of the Model S sedan, the starter model that was originally priced at about $57,000.

The California automaker says that orders for the car were so low, at about 4% of the mix, that it isn't worth making the 40 kilowatt-hour battery pack version. Instead, the company will focus on two higher-watt versions.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/04/01/tesla-motors-model-s-profitable/2041457/

[mainer]

1. I sat in one of those. Amazing engineering, but...

I was a bit scared of the chance it could "brick." In other words, if you let the battery run all the way down, it's permanently useless and you're out $40,000. There are safeguards against it (and Tesla apparently keeps an electronic eye on all its cars and will warn you if your battery's about to die) but I live in a part of the country that has frequent winter power outages, and I'd hate to have an ice storm wipe out my electricity -- and my car.

Also, Tesla: please upgrade your interiors! People who have the money to buy a Tesla want nice wood trim and door handles that don't look like cheap tin.