Autocar interview with Elon Musk

[dpeilow]

Q+A Tesla CEO Elon Musk - Autocar.co.uk

What has the reception for the Model S been like?

Very strong. We already have about 2000 deposits of $5000 for a car that won’t even be in production for a couple of years. We haven’t been promoting it, but so many people have asked to join a list that we’ve had to agree.

It looks nearly complete. Is it?

People like the look of it, but we still have plenty of development to do. And I’m not really happy with the interior package. We’re going to find at least 3cm more head room and some more room in the boot, too.

 

[Palpatine]

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/AllCars/246995/

Tesla’s chairman and CEO, Elon Musk, founded PayPal and a business called SpaceX that builds satellites for the US government.

That is just pathetic.

 

[action7981]

The standard Model S will have a 230 to 250-mile range.

I thought the standard/basic Model S was shooting for a 160 mile range? Is this a mis-statement by Elon or an unintentional disclosure that they are going with a larger battery pack for the standard version?

 

[tdelta1000]

I thought the standard/basic Model S was shooting for a 160 mile range? Is this a mis-statement by Elon or an unintentional disclosure that they are going with a larger battery pack for the standard version?

I agree with you action7981. Another thing, I would like more information on are his proposed interior changes. Overall, the interview shed a little more light on the Tesla vision.

 

[Arnold Panz]

Is it safe to assume that the original timeline for the Model S production to begin (late 2011) is still on target? With all of the various press reports Elon did as part of the NAIAS, I didn't see anyone ask this question directly, which is really my #1 question for Tesla. Given the delays that occurred with the Roadster, and the higher degree of difficulty associated with building the Model S from scratch, I'd be curious to hear whether Elon thinks they're likely to meet their own deadline for rolling out the Model S, and if not, what the new projected time frame is.

I realize there are many more hoops they have to jump through (selection of a site for the factory, building it out, finalizing design of the production model etc.) before they'll know for certain that they can get them rolling off the assembly line by late 2011, but I consider it a good sign that they haven't come out and definitively said it won't be ready by then. Am I being overly optimistic?

 

[GSP]

Am I being overly optimistic?

Probably. :wink:

GSP

 

[PopSmith]

I noticed at the bottom of the Q+A article another one that was posted yesterday and it says:

Tesla plans electric 3-series

Tesla plans electric 3-series - Autocar.co.uk

Well the article's main focus is a supposed Tesla-powered 3-series sedan I was more interested in this:

He recently revealed the Tesla Model S luxury saloon, which will go into production in mid-2012, priced at around $50,000 (likely to become £50,000 in the UK).

Maybe I'm a bit confused but the Model S was officially unveiled back in March of 2009, which was almost a year ago. That doesn't seem very "recent" to me.

Is this an un-official notice of a delay on the Model S? Or is the "mid-2012" mentioned for the U.K. launch of the Model S and not the U.S., which may still be on target for a late-2011/early-2012 launch.