How many Roadsters will be produced?

[dwegmull]

Every car model (plus one entire brand) I've owned since moving to the US has stopped its production shortly after I bought one. Am I cursed? ;-)

Of course the Roadster is quite different: it was meant to be a limited production, a rolling laboratory of sorts. Unlike the (mostly) forgettable previous cars I've owned, I do not plan to sell my Roadster anytime soon. The only reason I might eventually trade it is if I become physically unable to get in and out of it. Who knows what vehicles will be available by the time this happens!

 

[Eberhard]

The Roadster cured my back pain. Never to forget to do my daily duty by just go in and out

 

[Talkredius]

Every car model (plus one entire brand) I've owned since moving to the US has stopped its production shortly after I bought one. Am I cursed? ;-)

If you didn't reserverd a Model S yet I could live with that... ;-) Just send me a note if you do reserve one...

 

[Odenator]

Spoke to a Tesla rep this week to get further info on # of Roadsters that will be available. He told me that there are 115 total North American Roasters planned with 30 of them being the base model and of these only 11 will be custom order. The rest were the Sport edition. He did not say how many of these were already taken.

 

[doug]

Cross post from here.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk Electric Car Outlook | Nightly Business Report | PBS

MUSK: The roadster is the first viable electric car of the modern era. So it`s therefore I think a great collectors` item and that`s how we`ve designed the roadster program, to be something that is quite scarce. So that if you`re an early roadster customer and you`ve taken the chance of buying a car with us, on a new car company with a new technology, well, there ought to be some sort of reward for that. And that`s why we`ve intentionally constrained the volume of the Tesla roadster to only around 2400 vehicles. And in fact we`ll stop taking orders on the Tesla roadster later this year, in the United States and then early next year in Europe and Japan.

 

[bonnie]

spin.

 

[zack]

Nice spin, though.

 

[doug]

Spin nonetheless and slightly revisionist, but that's alright. It is what it is. Wish they had enough to keep selling until the sedan is shipping, though.

Also I hope to see the Roadster get a proper successor. That Model S platform based cabriolet looks a bit too big. Perhaps someday Lotus will buy powertrains from Tesla (instead of Toyota) for a next gen electric Elise, which could be the next Roadster in spirit at least.



I'm gonna merge this with the other thread on the same topic.

 

[zack]

Call it spin but maybe Elon has a vision that will make all of us proud. Maybe his spin will be the story in the long run. I hope he's not crushed by other factors, which we've all seen coming.

 

[doug]

Tesla Prepares for a Gap as Roadster Winds Down - NYTimes.com

For the Roadster, Tesla has obtained gliders from Lotus of Britain, which uses the same body for its Elise sports car [sic]. But Lotus is retooling for a new Elise, and Tesla’s contract for 2,400 gliders expires at the end of this year.

Expanded over a year ago from an earlier deal for 1,700 gliders that would have expired in March, the agreement lets Tesla keep Roadsters in showrooms longer. But the end of the supply of Roadster gliders “sheds light on how Lotus views the relationship,” said Kevin See of Lux Research. If Lotus saw the Roadster and Tesla as an important revenue source, he said, “it would find a way to keep those gliders coming.”

 

[bonnie]

Call it spin but maybe Elon has a vision that will make all of us proud. Maybe his spin will be the story in the long run. I hope he's not crushed by other factors, which we've all seen coming.

It's spin that expects us to buy into revisionist history that is annoying. Well, annoying to me. Maybe not to others.

 

[rabar10]

Tesla Roadster to charge across the US this May - siliconrepublic.com

Ironic that the US supply of Roadsters might dry up before this Drive Change Electric Roadster Tour is finished.

"Wow, that's fantastic, I'll buy one! Where do I sign?" Uhm, erm, ...

 

[Slackjaw]

Tesla Roadster to charge across the US this May - siliconrepublic.com

Ironic that the US supply of Roadsters might dry up before this Drive Change Electric Roadster Tour is finished.

"Wow, that's fantastic, I'll buy one! Where do I sign?" Uhm, erm, ...

It's definitely a bit sad but I get the impression that the tail end of the Roadster production has sold significantly faster than TM expected, which really can only be a good thing. Given the limited run, the sooner Tesla gets their hands on the cash, the better.

Also, have any of our readers tried to buy one in the US and been told "No more custom builds" yet? Anyone? ("Bueller?")

 

[Krandon]

All Gone?

Think I heard there were 5-6 custom build slots left in the US on Saturday... forced me to pull the trigger :biggrin:
So we're in the neighborhood of 4-5 remaining
Tick...tock...

 

[Slackjaw]

Think I heard there were 5-6 custom build slots left in the US on Saturday... forced me to pull the trigger :biggrin:
So we're in the neighborhood of 4-5 remaining
Tick...tock...

Wow! Thanks for the info. An impressive first post. :biggrin: ... So you may be getting a VIN in the 1390 range, although the numbers are a bit jumbled up so maybe that's not accurate.

Anyway congratulations, and welcome to the forum.

 

[AndrewBissell]

Would anyone in the US consider ordering a custom from Europe and shipping it over? Would that be allowed (certainly there are legal routes to bring cars the other way).

 

[tomsax]

It's spin that expects us to buy into revisionist history that is annoying. Well, annoying to me. Maybe not to others.

That's exactly right. When the CEO of a publicly traded company says that they've made a decision to end sales of their first product a year before they have a new product, and that the reason is to reward their early customers, we don't believe it. Some call it spin, others call it an outright lie. For one thing, there's the small matter of breaking locked-in orders made by 400 of those early customers so they could jack up the prices. For another, it doesn't seem plausible that burning cash to keep stores open with nothing to deliver and turning the halo effect into a roped-off display of a lone demo Roadster is building shareholder value.

Tesla Motors won't build credibility with lies. They should just tell it straight: their contract for the Roadster runs out soon and it's impossible or impractical to extend it. They will run out of new Roadsters to sell soon, well before Model S is out. If you want a Roadster, the best driving experience money can buy, you better order it now. If there's a new model Roadster in the future, it will be quite different from the current model, based on a different platform and satisfying a different aesthetic. Therefore these amazing cars will become collector's items both for their historical value and also for those who will prefer the original. This is a benefit they are happy to see falling on their early supporters and the best volunteer sales force in the industry.

 

[pgwoosley]

More Roadsters in Europe & Asia may result in more Model S sales there

Tesla Motors (TM) might get more "mileage" toward promoting the brand out of the remaining new Roadsters by TM increasing the presence of Roadsters in Europe and Asia. My impression is that the Roadster market penetration levels in those areas are not as high as they are in the U.S. The presence of Roadsters in a geographic area would tend to increase the acceptance level of the Model S when it comes out.

 

[Dragon]

Whatever. Just give me my Roadster!

 

[tomsax]

Tesla Motors stopped taking custom Roadster orders in the US yesterday, May 13th. The remaining inventory of about 90 spec US cars will probably be sold out by the end of summer.