Tesla Model S Pics Leaked Moments Before Debut!

Digg founder Kevin Rose has evidently uploaded full shots of the Tesla Model S to his flickr account moments before Tesla was going to unveil the car later today. Thanks to the $7,500 federal tax credit you can own this electric sport sedan for under $50,000.  And I must say, early rumors were true, the Tesla Model S looks very much like the Aston Martin Rapide.  The photos are posted below, for your viewing pleasure:

For our complete coverage of the Tesla Model S click here.

Tesla wants some of that money too.

With loans to the Big 3 all but signed for, Tesla Motors feels they deserve a piece of the government handout pie. Tesla’s Vice President of Business Development, Diarmuid O’Connell, blogged about how it was a bad idea for the Big Three to get money that had been set aside in the December 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), specifically Section 136. Section 136 set up the Advanced Technology Vehicles Loan Program (ATVMLP), and Tesla opposed taking money that was supposed to make cars cleaner and instead use it to just keep the Big Three operating.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk told the Detroit Free Press that if the electric car maker doesn’t get a $350 million loan from the government, then the Model S will be delayed and San Jose plant won’t open. Musk said that with $350 million, Tesla could sell 20,000 electric sedans a year by 2011. “We can’t move forward with that without a major amount of capital,” said Musk. “If we don’t get any government funding, then what we need to do is we need to wait until the capital markets recover, which could be a year or two years from now.”

I sure hope the government does the right thing by helping a company with a proven track record of providing energy efficient vehicles. Sadly, the way things are moving right now, this will probably not happen soon enough.

Sources: Detroit Free Press, Autobloggreen

“Rendered speculation” unveiled of Tesla Model S

Last week, a roadandtrack.com article displayed a picture of this vehicle in its new and future cars section. People are having a tough time nailing down where this rendering came from and its legitimacy. Was it released by Tesla Motors? Or is it just somebody’s best estimate of what the car could look like? A couple months ago, I wrote about some rumors swirling that Tesla had possibly leaked information on the Model S design. I must say, the rendering does share some features with the Rapide: a large, low grill, long, narrow headlights, and four doors. But there are also some disparities: more angular, Asian design influence, and smaller back seats.

I don’t believe the final Tesla Model S will actually look like this rendering for a couple reasons. The Model S project was created to bring a luxury, four door sedan to the electric car market. The rendering shows that the back seats are not really sedan worthy, but more like those you find in two door sports cars like the Nissan 350Z and Audi TT. The photo has been stretched and altered by many websites so it is hard to estimate the length of the vehicle, but the Model S is meant to be a very long and large vehicle. The rendering looks a lot like a Mazda RX8, which is by no means a family sedan.

To add to the confusion, a picture in businessweek shows Chief designer von Holzhausen supposedly with a prototype of the Model S. What we see is the rear of a vehicle that looks like a full on hatchback, nothing like the rendering or the Aston Martin speculation, but more like a Toyota Prius. So it looks like everybody is back to the proverbial drawing board.

Anticipation builds for Tesla’s Model S

Could Tesla’s $60,000 electric sedan look something like this?

That is what many are speculating after The Sun columnist, Ken Gibson, claimed he was given a “sneak preview” of the Model S at the end of his recent online column. Thus priming the the rumor mill at the telsamotorclub.com Model S potential design forum, and leading many to claim the Model S will look like the Aston Martin Rapide concept. This keeps in line with Tesla’s claims that the Model S will be a huge, very long, four door hatchback.

The design also fits the dimensions of the Dodge Magnum Mule that was spotted next to a Tesla Motors facility with no exhaust pipe and test wheels, also in the forums:

This is still all speculation, but anything rolling out of Tesla Motors is sure to be superbly designed and built, given their track record.

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