Franz will be tasked with shaping Tesla's future Model S sedan and sport compact, and if his work on the Mazda Furai concept is any indication, the next generation of Teslas should be lookers. Of course, this is all assuming the company can live up to its ambitions and actually survive long enough to produce vehicles beyond the existing roadster.

SAN CARLOS, CA - Deepak Ahuja, a seasoned auto industry finance executive with 15 years experience at Ford Motor Company, has joined Tesla Motors as Chief Financial Officer.

Deepak was previously the controller for Ford's small cars product development program, a strategic initiative to bring several fuel efficient cars to Ford's lineup in the United States. Previously, Deepak was CFO for Ford of Southern Africa, a $3 Billion subsidiary where he oversaw the finance, legal and IT functions. Prior to that, Deepak served as CFO for Auto Alliance International, a joint venture between Ford and Mazda with over $4 billion in revenue.

"Deepak's experience as CFO of multi-billion dollar business units with global sourcing and manufacturing operations makes him the ideal person to lead our finance organization through the company's next period of rapid growth," said Tesla CEO Ze'ev Drori. "The addition of another seasoned auto industry executive to the senior management team at Tesla demonstrates that Tesla is focused on combining the best of what Detroit and Silicon Valley has to offer in building the next great American automobile company."

"The opportunity to work for the leading alternative energy automobile company in the world, and one with as strong a brand as Tesla, is very exciting." said Deepak. "The team here has the vision, passion and the determination to make Tesla a driving force of change."

Deepak holds bachelors and masters degrees in Materials Engineering from Banaras Hindu University and Northwestern University, respectively and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. Deepak, his wife and two daughters have moved from Michigan to Silicon Valley, where Deepak will work out of Tesla's San Carlos headquarters.

Recently, Tesla Motors announced the appointment of auto industry veteran Mike Donoughe as EVP Vehicle Engineering and Manufacturing.

What makes this vehicle ideal for the wealthy? It's comparatively expensive, has decent power, and it's a lot less common than the average Ferrari. More importantly, it helps the rich feel better about themselves. Says one moneyed onlooker:

"We're in a wealthy area," Patrick added, "so, while gas prices aren't as much of an issue, you can still feel like you're fulfilling your green responsibility and reducing your carbon footprint with a car like this."

Back in the development days of the Tesla, Henrik Fisker was hired to do the body design on a four-seater code-named the White Star. Tesla forked over $875,000 for Fisker's work. The lawsuit continues to divulge that Fisker had no experience with hybrids prior to working for Tesla and essentially sabotaged the project, took his earnings and developed the Fisker Karma, a similar sporty hybrid.

The story gets a little peculiar on Tesla's end after Fisker left the company to make his own hybrid. Tesla said that they didn't want to use Fisker's design because he was going to make his own car and become the competition. This set the company back three to six months in production. If Tesla had a head start on the design-work why didn't they just progress with Fisker's current design and beat him to the show floor? Tesla continues to say that Fisker's work was substandard, so it's understandable, but they didn't have to scrap the design completely, right? Also, why would Tesla shell out nearly a million on a substandard designer with no hybrid experience?

This is the point where we would initially speculate on how the lawsuit will affect production of the Tesla Whitestar and the Fisker Karma, but who are we kidding. These two are perpetually in that yes, but no, but maybe someday phase of production development. [NY Times]

"Tesla's Whitestar and Darkstar programs are DOA. The Detroit office is in trouble. it's all hands on deck to get the roadster to work"

With Tesla still having problems with delays and a growing list of people who want their product, a little shakeup at the top could be taken as a sign that this is a company with a future and not another niche carmaker disaster waiting to happen. (h/t Jared)[NY Times]

I had the chance to meet Tesla Motors CEO Martin Eberhard briefly at the Detroit Auto Show this year, not less than a couple of days after their research center was to be opening in Metro Detroit. I jokingly asked him if we'd be seeing a manufacturing center for the "White Star" four-door 'lectric sedan located nearby as well. Eberhard was coy on the subject, and no wonder — New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson announced earlier today that Tesla Motors will build a new automobile assembly facility in Albuquerque, which the state's claiming will include 400 jobs, a total capital investment of $35 million in a 150,000 square foot plant. They're also claiming the construction of the assembly plant will begin in April of this year and be completed by 2009. We're not really sure how that's going to happen - unless they've already got an auto platform to work with to design the plant around. Oh wait, we've also heard a rumor from a couple of different sources that Tesla may be using the Ford CD3...

...platform — otherwise known as the Ford Fusion.

What's that got to do with being located in Albuquerque? This is totally conjecture on our part, but maybe Tesla just wanted to be close enough to the Hermosillo, Mexico plant that puts together the Fusion and its hetero-life-mates, the Lincoln MKZ and Mercury Milan. Again, just conjecture — as it's the only reason we could think of for why they'd be wanting to locate in Albuquerque, although one minor metal mental giant on the subject thinks it may be because New Mexico may have "government support for technology" — although we've even less proof of that than the Fusion thing. I guess we'll just wait and see what happens. If you've already forgotten what Tesla's Elise-based Roadster looks like, we've included a gallery below. – Ray Wert

Richardson announces Tesla Motors assembly facility for Albuquerque [FreeNewMexican via Gizmodo]

Related:
Great Balls Of Lightning! Tesla Motors To Electrify Michigan On Tuesday? [internal]