Hasta La Gadget!

We can’t argue that the Tesla Model S is not only a great achievement in the EV industry and a looker as well, but there are still a lot of people unconvinced by the $70,000 sticker price ($60k, if you count the tax credits). CEO Elon Musk is definitely aware of that particular concern, and stated tonight at D11 that there’s a very good chance we’ll see Teslas in three years for half the price — and 20 percent smaller, to boot. Speaking with Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg, Musk mentioned he started the company with a three-step strategy to get to mass market, with the Roadster and Model S being the first two steps. The third step, naturally, would be to offer options that are more affordable: according to Musk, “I think every major product needs at least three iterations to get to the mass market — I know cellphones have had much more than that.” While we wait for 2016-17, we’ll start saving some of our pennies, but fortunately we may not have to pinch all of them.

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Despite a bit of bad press for its Model S and a less-than-ideal close to the 2012 financial year, things have been looking up for Tesla. Sales are on an upward climb, company CEO Elon Musk has sworn to deliver more superchargers, better service for customers and continues to tout his EV’s high resale value. After promising in Q4 of 2012 that Tesla would turn a profit the next quarter, the EV manufacturer has done so — generating $15 million in net income and $562 million in revenue in Q1 2013.

During the first quarter the company built 5,000 Model S cars, and is scheduled to build the same number in Q2 to keep pace with the 20,000 orders expected this year. To better service all those vehicles, Tesla opened 12 new service locations in Q1, with 18 more to come online by the end of 2013. Additionally, the company plans to start deliveries of Teslas in Europe in Q3. An investor call with Mr. Musk will be starting shortly, and we’ll update things here should he have any other news to share.

Update: During the call, Musk said that the company plans to build upon its newfound financial success by continuing to focus on increasing production efficiency for the Model S — which is why the Model X has been delayed until late 2014. He also made mention of the fact that roughly half the folks buying the 60 kWh Model S are upgrading to supercharging hardware at purchase (85kWh cars have it standard), and he expects that number to grow as the Supercharger network grows in 2013.

Filed under: Transportation

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Source: Tesla [PDF]

You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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“It doesn’t help to have a car that’s cheap, but that sucks.” This isn’t the sort of direct language that you typically hear from a CEO these days, but this is exactly the kind of material you can expect from Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk. Over the course of our conversation, Musk (who earlier co-founded PayPal and who also heads up SpaceX) went on the record calling journalists who didn’t understand the benefits of leases “dumbasses” and pledged that use of the company’s Supercharger stations will always, forever and ever, be free. Candid responses such as these are not new for Mr. Musk, having certainly caused some turmoil in the past, and they do make for quite an interesting interview. Join us as we explore why the cheapest Model S was scrapped and we ask just when we can expect the fabled, and truly affordable, third-generation Tesla.

Filed under: Transportation

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Electric cars and commercial space flight — what more could a person want? The Tesla / SpaceX founder is bringing all of that to his keynote on this, this second day of South By Southwest Interactive. The exec has never been on to mince words, so this ought to be an interesting one. Join us after the break, won’t you?

Filed under: Transportation, Science

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