Still, any buyer of a Roadster is likely taking more financial risk than any model S depositor.
It was that damn jedi mind trick. Before I walked in there, I told myself I was overpaying for this car and that it was impractical, but somehow I ended up with one anyway. I guess what I was trying to say is that in addition to the money I threw away on this kick-ass car, throwing away an additional $40k would hurt even more.
On a slightly more serious note, I did consider that with the Roadster. But what I figured with the Roadster is that if I gave them money, and I had a car, if they went bankrupt, I'd still have the car. This would be analogous to the Delorean... it is still possible to get parts and service on a Delorean, even today. So the money I risked on the Roadster was a smaller risk, because they were just infused with a butt-load of money (stimulus, IPO, Mercedes, and Toyota) and they had delivered >1000 cars, so I figured they'd be around long enough to deliver mine.
But for the Model S, expected delivery date was 2011 for Signature series, but now it is apparently pushed back to 2012. This is a new car company, and they plan on going from concept, to design, to manufacturing for less money than companies that have been doing it for years. I think it is possible, but there is a lot of risk in their plan. I'm not trying to be a downer, I was just stating the obvious risk. A significant delay to the Model S would require another cash infusion... they would need to get more money from somewhere.
@Doug_G: Apparently, rare earth metals is not a concern... whew. Funny thing is that the allure of cars appeal to men and mostly young men. That demographic tends to have more risk takers, so perhaps that will work in Tesla's favor.
