
Tesla Motors Plans I.P.O. to Raise $100 Million - robg
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/30/business/energy-environment/30tesla.html?ref=technology
======
jacquesm
That's actually one of very few tech IPOs that makes some sense.

I wish the Tesla people lots of strength, the car industry is a very bad place
to be active in at the moment.

They have a unique proposition, they've done some clever marketing. By taking
the 'prius' out of the electric car market and showing they can be sexy as
well as good performers they've made a lot of people less skeptical about
electric propulsion.

Let's hope they stick around and will manage to establish themselves as a long
term brand, it is probably a requirement for at least one party to fully focus
on electric instead of having to offer a whole range of vehicles, like that
they can optimize where others will have to compromise.

Their model S is still two to three years away, if and when it starts shipping
it will be a very interesting development.

------
steveplace
SEC Filing:
[http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318605/00011931251001705...](http://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318605/000119312510017054/ds1.htm)

This isn't necessarily a good thing for the sector/company.

Also:

Risks Affecting Us

 _Risk Factors:

our limited operating history makes evaluating our business and future
prospects difficult, and may increase the risk of your investment;

we have a history of losses and we expect significant increases in our costs
and expenses to result in continuing losses for at least the foreseeable
future;

our future growth is dependent upon consumers’ willingness to adopt electric
vehicles;

we are dependent upon our ability to fully draw down on our loan facility from
the United States Department of Energy, which may restrict our ability to
conduct our business;

our distribution model is different from the predominant current distribution
model for automobile manufacturers, which makes evaluating our business,
operating results and future prospects difficult;

we are almost entirely dependent upon revenue generated from the sale of our
electric vehicles, specifically the Tesla Roadster, in the near term, and our
future success will be dependent upon our ability to design and achieve market
acceptance of new vehicle models, and specifically the Model S;

we anticipate that we will experience a decrease in revenues and increase in
losses prior to the launch of the Model S;

our production model for the non-powertrain portion of the Model S is
unproven, still evolving and is very different from the non-powertrain portion
of the production model for the Tesla Roadster; and

we may experience significant delays in the design, manufacture, launch and
financing of the Model S._

