Tesla Motors

The first all-electric Coda sedan rolled off the assembly line in Benicia, Calif., on Monday, marking a big day for the privately held Los Angeles company. Coda Automotive Inc. manufactures most of the vehicle's battery system and body in China. The parts are then shipped to the San Francisco Bay Area port city of Benicia for final assembly. "Coda started five years ago in an airport hangar in Southern California," said Mac Heller, the company's executive chairman. "We shared a conviction that with technology and science, we could create cars that do not spoil the Earth, drain the treasury or hurt the health of our children.

The first all-electric Coda sedan rolled off the assembly line in Benicia, Calif., on Monday, marking a big day for the privately held Los Angeles company. Coda Automotive Inc. manufactures most of the vehicle's battery system and body in China. The parts are then shipped to the San Francisco Bay Area port city of Benicia for final assembly. "Coda started five years ago in an airport hangar in Southern California," said Mac Heller, the company's executive chairman. "We shared a conviction that with technology and science, we could create cars that do not spoil the Earth, drain the treasury or hurt the health of our children.

Tesla Motors Inc. has yet to deliver the much-touted Model S — the electric sedan it is making at its auto factory in Fremont, Calif. — but that didn't stop the automaker from taking reservations for a sport utility vehicle it doesn't expect to begin selling until 2014. The Palo Alto, Calif., maker of electric vehicles unveiled the Model X, an electric-powered SUV, and said interested buyers could put down a $5,000 deposit to reserve one, though the vehicle's price hasn't been set yet. The Model X looks more like a crossover than a traditional utility and features unusual gull-wing doors that lift up and out. Tesla plans to start manufacturing the vehicle at the end of 2013, with sales to begin the following year.

Electric car company Tesla Motors Inc. announced a deal to provide the powertrain for a new Mercedes-Benz vehicle, even as it moves closer to manufacturing its own vehicles later this year. The Palo Alto automaker also said Wednesday that it expected revenue to roughly triple this year, when it will begin selling the Tesla Model S sedan, its first ground-up design. The company is about to launch production of the Model S at its factory in Fremont, Calif. For the new Mercedes model, Tesla will provide the battery packs, motor, gearbox, inverter and all related software.

Electric-car maker Tesla Motors said Thursday that it was recalling all 345 of its Roadster sports cars produced before April 22 so they could be inspected for a possible suspension problem. Tesla blamed the problem on bolts that were improperly installed on the rear chassis "of a small percentage" of Roadsters by British automaker Lotus.

California electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc. plans to raise up to $100 million in an initial public offering, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The move brings the innovative car company, which has long enticed car enthusiasts, one step closer to becoming a household name. The price of shares or the timing of their availability is still unclear, but industry observers expect the much-anticipated offering to be well-received by investors.

Tesla Motors Inc. saw its loss increase 177% last year, as research, marketing and manufacturing expenses piled on for the young electric-vehicle company. The Palo Alto automaker said the loss ballooned to $154.3 million in 2010 from $55.7 million in 2009. After its June initial public offering, it became the only publicly held automaker in California. Tesla's loss for the fourth quarter that ended Dec. 31 was $51.4 million, company executives said Tuesday. Founded in 2003, Tesla has garnered a lot of attention for its high-priced electric car that has been bought by the likes of Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Reporting from Orinda, Calif., and East Palo Alto, Calif. -- Residents of a densely packed neighborhood in East Palo Alto, Calif., awoke to explosions and fire Wednesday when a small plane carrying employees of an electric car company crashed in dense fog, killing all three aboard and spewing debris over several homes. The twin-engine Cessna 310 hit 60-foot-high transmission lines, and its fuselage was found tangled in wires. The victims, who were not immediately identified, were employees of Tesla Motors Inc., a San Carlos, Calif.

Tesla Motors Inc., aiming to be the first high-volume U.S. maker of electric sports cars, named entrepreneur Ze'ev Drori chief executive of the San Carlos, Calif., company. Drori, who founded a semiconductor firm that was bought by Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in the 1980s, replaces interim CEO Michael Marks on Dec. 3.

Tesla Motors won't sell the first Model S - the electric sedan it is making at its auto factory in Fremont - until later this year, but the company has already announced plans to expand production by offering  the Model X, a sport-utility vehicle. The Palo Alto-based maker of electric vehicles unveiled the SUV, which looks more like a crossover than a traditional utility, at its Los Angeles design studios Thursday. Tesla plans to start manufacturing the vehicle at the end of 2013 with sales to begin the following year.

Tesla Motors Inc. has yet to deliver the much-touted Model S — the electric sedan it is making at its auto factory in Fremont, Calif. — but that didn't stop the automaker from taking reservations for a sport utility vehicle it doesn't expect to begin selling until 2014. The Palo Alto, Calif., maker of electric vehicles unveiled the Model X, an electric-powered SUV, and said interested buyers could put down a $5,000 deposit to reserve one, though the vehicle's price hasn't been set yet. The Model X looks more like a crossover than a traditional utility and features unusual gull-wing doors that lift up and out. Tesla plans to start manufacturing the vehicle at the end of 2013, with sales to begin the following year.

An email war of words between tech entrepreneur Elon Musk of Tesla Motors Inc. and a prominent automotive journalist will turn into a $1-million payday for Doctors Without Borders, the international medical charity. Car reviewer Dan Neil of the Wall Street Journal and Musk have been trading oral and email barbs over whether Tesla will be able to bring out its Model S luxury electric sedan on schedule and at the claimed price. Musk is the chief executive of Palo Alto-based Tesla as well as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., the Hawthorne rocket company.

Electric car company Tesla Motors Inc. posted a loss of $58.9 million in the second quarter as it sunk money into developing its Model S sedan and a crossover that it is calling Model X. Tesla, based in Palo Alto, is refurbishing an old Toyota factory in Fremont, Calif., where it plans to build the cars. The Model S, an all-electric luxury sedan, is expected to go on sale next year. The loss was 53% larger than the $38.5 million the company lost in the same period a year earlier.

Tesla Motors Inc., bolstered by sales of battery packs for electric vehicles, said quarterly revenue more than doubled. But losses grew sharply as costs of developing an electric vehicle escalated. The Palo Alto firm reported revenue of $49 million in the first quarter, more than double the $20.8 million a year earlier, as it delivered a record number of battery packs and chargers for Daimler's electric Smart Fortwo and Toyota's electric RAV4 that is due out next year and for which Tesla is helping to develop a powertrain.

Tesla Motors Inc. saw its loss increase 177% last year, as research, marketing and manufacturing expenses piled on for the young electric-vehicle company. The Palo Alto automaker said the loss ballooned to $154.3 million in 2010 from $55.7 million in 2009. After its June initial public offering, it became the only publicly held automaker in California. Tesla's loss for the fourth quarter that ended Dec. 31 was $51.4 million, company executives said Tuesday. Founded in 2003, Tesla has garnered a lot of attention for its high-priced electric car that has been bought by the likes of Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Tesla Motors Inc. shares surged Thursday after Panasonic Corp., which makes rechargeable batteries among its many products, bought a $30-million stake in the electric car company. Panasonic, based in Osaka, Japan, paid $21.15 a share Wednesday in a private placement, Palo Alto-based Tesla said in a statement. Panasonic now holds about a 2% stake in the company. In afternoon trading, Tesla shares jumped $3.13, or 14.4%, to $24.90. Last week, Tesla opened the doors of its Fremont, Calif.