Tesla Delivers 100th Roadster

graham said:

Yes, I have been expecting them to hit the 100 car number any day now for the last several days. I hope they hit it soon, and issue a press release when they do.

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Tesla delivering the 100th Roadster today - AutoblogGreen

The 100th Tesla Roadster will be delivered today at the Tesla store in Menlo Park in Silicon Valley. Elon Musk, Tesla Motors' CEO and chairman will be there at noon to hand over the keys to "a special customer" according to Rachel Konrad, Tesla's senior communications manager.

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yeah I'm here now. I found out ahead of time but held off on saying who it was. commenting from my cell. the car is VIN 81.

I got back a little while ago, ended up spending a couple hours there.

While I was there, I understood it to be the 100th car produced. Seems to be reported as the 100th car delivered, so I'm not sure. The car is Signature 100 #81, Radiant Red with black and red interior.

I got to meet Sam Perry and he was a real nice guy. It was kinda funny, all the media cameras got really close. Sam ended up conducting what was a pretty comprehensive interview with Elon; asking most of the things the media whated to know, touching on all the various bits in recent news. Later the media got some shots of Sam driving his car out of the parking lot. I'd be interested to see what video shows up in the local news.

Besides the local network affiliates, there were some international news people there: Met a guy from Le Monde (who totally looked like an early '80s sitcom actor whose name I don't know), Korean TV (KBS), and I got to exercise my Japanese language skills with a guy from Asahi Shimbun. Actually I spent a lot of time talking with the guy from Asahi, answering his questions about the Roadster and Tesla in general.

Rachael Konrad gave a tour of the service area and the shop where the drivetrains are installed. I'll post more details about that in another thread. See also a production update here.

graham said:

Wow! Sounds like an awesome time! How did you end up hearing about it before hand?

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I saw the ABG post this morning and the store is really close to campus. That and I have the extremely busy yet flexible schedule of a graduate student.

graham said:

Were any other non-media folks in attendance?

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Yeah, some.

• There was, of course, Elon, Zak, and Rachael. Along with some other less public Tesla employees.
• Sam Perry, who rode in on a fold up bike which managed to fit in the trunk when he drove off.
• Some members of the Chamber of Commerce.

Other than that, there were maybe less than 5 other civilians. There was a couple seemed to just come in at that time by coincidence and maybe just a few others.

Here are some links to articles that talk about the event, or about what was talked about at the event. :wink:
Please discuss specific issues in their respective threads.

cbs5.com - Local Wire

Greentech Media | Tesla Coughs Up Sedan Price, Details on Economy Car

Tesla Motors honors Menlo Park businessman - KFTY TV50

KCBS - Mr. Man Buys Tesla Motor's 100th Roadster

Bloomberg.com: Worldwide

Tesla Motors CEO: Sedan Electric Car, San Jose Plant To Be Delayed 2 More Years Without Government Funding TechPulse 360