Japanese auto maker Toyota announced today that it’s investing $50 million in electric-car maker Tesla Motors. As part of the deal Tesla gets its hands on a factory in California, where it will build its Model S car and other vehicles.
With Tesla, Toyota gets a platform that will allow it to compete head on with General Motors and Nissan selling electric cars in North America — see full press release.
Besides a fresh batch of capital, for Tesla the transaction brings a substantive distribution network to sell its cars.
Tesla has 2,000 reservations for the Model S sedan and intends to scale production in 2012 when it expects to produce as much as 20,000 a year, reports Bloomberg.
Since its inception in 2004 Tesla has not posted a profit, loosing more than $230 million. The car company plans to use proceeds from an upcoming $100 million share sale and a $465 million government loan-guarantee and the Toyota investment, to finance construction of a manufacturing line for its Model S.