In wake of Gulf spill, should this be the summer of energy reform?<\/a><\/p>\n U.N. study calls for economic changes to save biodiversity<\/a><\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tby Agence France-Presse <\/p>\n
The Tesla Model SNEW YORK—U.S. electric carmaker Tesla Motors is firing
\non all cylinders and gearing up for greater things after partnering with top
\ncarmaker Toyota.\n<\/p>\n
On Thursday,
\nToyota announced that it’s taking a $50 million stake in Tesla. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Tesla has a few
\nhundred employees and is expected to go public at some point down the road.\n<\/p>\n
“The
\nannouncement is path-breaking and historic,” said University of
\nCalifornia-Berkley professor Harley Shaiken. “It gives Tesla considerable
\ncredibility.”\n<\/p>\n
“Toyota is
\nvery conservative,” he added, so the announcement is good “for
\ninvestors and Tesla—they can take that to the bank.”\n<\/p>\n
Toyota’s
\ninvestment in Tesla follows German luxury carmaker Daimler’s stake a year ago
\nof “more than 5 percent” in the electric carmaker, a $465 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy, and
\na $31 million tax break from the state of California.\n<\/p>\n
Flush with cash,
\nTesla on Thursday announced it bought a closed factory near San Francisco that
\nup until last month had housed a joint venture between Toyota and General
\nMotors that was churning out Toyota Corolla and Tacoma vehicles, with a
\nproduction potential of 500,000 units per year.\n<\/p>\n
If Tesla can
\nhire the plant’s 4,500 former workers, it would “get their experience, and
\ntheir trouble-shooting capabilities,” in addition to Toyota’s knowhow in
\nlarge volume sales, said Shaiken. The Toyota stake and plant acquisition make
\nTesla’s initial public offering “more likely and significantly more
\nvaluable,” he added.\n<\/p>\n
However,
\nEdmunds.com auto industry analyst Michelle Krebs warned that Tesla’s eventual
\nmove to an IPO is still uncertain, especially in such an unpredictable stock
\nmarket that has been falling since the start of the month.\n<\/p>\n
“They need
\nto time [to get the IPO] right with the market,” Krebs said, noting that
\nTesla is not alone in wanting to go public: General Motors and Chrysler came
\nback from bankruptcy last year and also intend to sell more of their shares on
\nthe market.\n<\/p>\n
According to
\nU.S. press reports, Tesla would be the first auto company to go public since
\nFord did so in 1956.\n<\/p>\n
Founded in 2003
\nby South African Elon Musk, a cofounder of online payments giant PayPal, Tesla
\nalready manufactures the Tesla Roadster, a high-performance sports car that
\nsells for more than $100,000 and gets nearly 250 miles on a single charge.\n<\/p>\n
The company also
\nplans to unveil in 2012 a “Model S” five-passenger sedan powered by
\nlithium-ion battery packs capable of between 160 and 300 miles per charge, with
\nan anticipated base price of around $50,000.\n<\/p>\n
With Toyota,
\nTesla plans to develop other electric models, hoping to break out of the luxury
\ncar trade and into mass production.\n<\/p>\n
In the long
\nterm, auto industry experts said, the Tesla-Toyota partnership could rival
\nother carmakers.\n<\/p>\n
General Motors
\nplans to launch the hybrid Volt, which runs on batteries but also has a
\ngasoline motor in case the batteries lose their charge.\n<\/p>\n
Nissan next year
\nhopes to market the all-electric Leaf.\n<\/p>\n
After
\npioneering hybrid vehicles with the Prius but falling behind in fully electric
\ncars, Toyota will now have access to Tesla’s “control system, the
\nelectronics that control, cool, and manage the battery, and the electric flow
\nbetween the battery and the powertrain,” said Edmunds.com “green
\ncar” expert John O’Dell. And that’s something Daimler already was after,
\nhe noted.\n<\/p>\n
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