Photo Credit: John Nuttal

The final price, after the tax credit, is a relatively low $67,800 (relative to the 110K starting price). This coincides with the VIP opening of a Tesla dealership in Boulder — and by VIP we mean Elon Musk's brother. Get them while they're hot. (Hat tip to goatrope!)

[Fox News]

The anonymous exploiter of lost tourists and underpaid immigrants alike apparently owns a fleet mostly made up of Escape Hybrids, so in his mind we're sure the connection between not-terribly economical taxis and an electric supercar painted to look like a cab makes total sense.

Missing the Humor, Le Blog Auto points out the electric-two seater wouldn't make a very practical taxi, largely due to the inability of magnetic signs to stick to the carbon bodywork. We'd add that the lack of trunk space and long recharge time should also be considered before any enterprising individuals attempt to make a business out of this. Also, there's the whole "no back seat" thing. [Le Blog Auto via Green Car Reports]

Because, as your Crazy Euro Car-Photographer Boy can tell you, motor shows drain your batteries in menacing ways.

What's pretty amazing is the Tesla is such a weighty car for the size. The Tesla weighs in at 2500 lbs — that's 500 lbs more than even a Lotus Exige S 240. That china's pretty strong if you ask us. [via Strada]

I had the opportunity to spend a few minutes behind the wheel as only the second journalist to get a chance driving the new Tesla Roadster Sport. The first was Dan Rather, which explains the smell of liniment, the REM on the radio and the Afghan robes in the trunk. But I digress. Let's talk about what makes this car merit the $28,000 premium over the original Tesla Roadster, which only manages 0-to-60 in 3.9 seconds.

For starters, there's some new under-the-trunk bits n' pieces that help boost power slightly. Specifically, there's a hand-wound stator and increased winding density for lower resistance and higher peak torque, lending it stronger acceleration.

Frankly, the GT-R can take its launch control and shove it. Because now that I've driven this I can say there isn't a better Game Boy out there than the Roadster Sport. Thanks to it being all-electric, all the torque's available the moment you drop the parking brake and press the button for drive (more on that shortly). So you're able to hit 60 MPH in a 3-point-something-second blink of an eye. Every time. And no you won't even void your warranty doing it.

But, like many American cars, it seems to drive at its best in a straight line. I found cornering to be tricky, with the cumbersome weight of the battery pack behind the seats doing confidence and communication no great shakes. But until I get a chance to play with it at some higher speeds than I was able to achieve on crowded New York City streets, I can't say for certain how it'll perform. Late last year I had the chance to drive the Lotus Exige S 240 (same chassis as the Tesla) on these same roads and it felt much more sprightly around the turns.

The ride was more comfortable than what we would have expected, taking many of the bumps and holes of the road with relative ease, yet the suspension still felt taught enough to take someplace a bit more befitting of a 3.7-second 0-to-60 time. Credit some of that to the increased mass of the batteries helping the unsprung to sprung weight ratio.

On the inside Tesla has finally made an effort to move away from the standard Lotus interior. Unfortunately, the cockpit's still not big enough for my 6'3" frame. I found myself wedged into uncomfortable position just to be able to see out the windshield. But that's the same problem I've had in every Lotus I've ever driven. The upgrades include a lockable glove compartment, new placement of the LCD info screen and an upgraded HVAC system. Additionally, the new model takes advantage of the single-stage transmission, doing away with the silly pretense of a stick shifter and replacing it with a button system for park, drive and reverse. It worked quite nicely on my short drive.

On the exterior, Tesla's found a way to drop enough carbon fiber up top to keep the weight of this porky pig down to a manageable 2,700 lb — the same as the regular Tesla Roadster and only 700 Lbs more than the Lotus Elise. But anyway, who cares what it looks like. Only one thing matters with this car – accelerating to 60 MPH in just 3.7 seconds in eerie silence. Oh, that and the $128,500 price tag.

Yes, for a cool quarter-million bucks you can join 4M Club's (it stands for "Multi Million Match Making") "Rolls Royce Plan," which nonsensically offers a Tesla Roadster to go along with your discreet and single lady. As long as you pay company President Chris Stelmack more than twice list price for a Tesla roadster, she'll happily scour the planet for your soul mate, you even get to keep the car! We know a certain bachelor CEO with an extra $465 million in his pocket who's perfect for this opportunity.

[4M Club via TCC]

Along with airing pretty much all of Eberhard's dirty laundry, refuting from his perception, all of the claims in the lawsuit, Musk also makes Eberhard look like something of an incompetent nincompoop. There are some real stingers buried in the enormous writing, complete with emails copied in to back up Musk's story, some of our favorites include:

There were several smaller items I suggested, such as the touchpad door latch that Eberhard tries to use as an excuse for why it cost over $140M to bring the Roadster to market instead of the $25M that he estimated in the 2004 business plan. That would have to be one hell of door latch! The $140M excludes any costs associated with the Model S."

and this not-so-subtle slap:

"All he had was a business plan to commercialize the AC Propulsion Tzero electric sports car concept. Three years later, when Eberhard was asked to leave Tesla, most of the work that he had been paid to do had to be redone."

Ouch.

In any case, Musk goes on to say over the last few years of work, the total bill of materials price which was pegged around $140k when Eberhard was running the show has been reduced to around $80k. Along with improvements to the supply chain, the optional Tesla Roadster Sport and a run rate around 20-30 cars a week, Musk is expecting to see the company turn the corner and see profitability next month.

It's a bit of a long read, but if you want a look at all of Tesla's dirty laundry being aired in pretty much one place and understand a lot of the history behind the car and its delays, it's well worth the time. [Tesla]

So it's nice that Musk has such lofty goals. Frankly, it's always been his forte. He leaves the "how to get there" to other, more little people. Like with an idea to build 100,000 cars per year by buying an idled assembly plant from a U.S. automaker. He'll leave the whole "design a mid-size sedan for it to build" to other people. Musk's an "idea man," ya know. And for an "idea man" the reality of building 100,000 mid-size sedans is kind of like trying to build a "kabillion" mid-size sedans — they're both impossible numbers when you don't even have a working design.

He also thinks gas should cost $10 a gallon. Hmm, we wonder why. Keep in mind it's not that we disagree with Musk, we just happen to believe it's also probably the price-point in which a $100,000 Tesla roadster becomes a good investment versus a sports car with similar performance. [CNet, Twitter]

There's apparently two kinds of Tesla employees — current employees and former employees suing Tesla. Frankly, we're not surprised Eberhard's suing Musk and Tesla. We're more surprised that it took this long to happen especially given Musk's propensity for diarrhea-of-the-mouth types of comments. For the moment, the only thing we have to go off of is the PDF file from the California Superior Court — which you can see here.

In response, we're told Tesla plans to counter-sue Eberhard. That went over real well with Henrik Fisker — let's see how well it works here. All we know is we're just proud Eberhard quotes former-Valleywag Owen Thomas in his court filing. Gotta love the V-wag love! (Hat tip to Owen!)

Photo Credit: Yodel Anecdotal @ Flickr

For starters, Letterman gave a mea culpa and introduction to Lutz, calling him one of the "true greats in automotive design, marketing, sales and management...he's the man responsible for the Viper...a wonderful car. He's here with the Chevy Volt...and with any luck I'll get one of these babies for free."

Next, after the break, Letterman talked a little about the EV1 and how it's not from the planet Saturn. Then he wondered if building electric cars would have kept some dealers open. If it had, then damn, that's just one more reason to keep the internal combustion engine in our minds.

Then, after a Stephen Colbert interview, Dave made a bad pun about an electric car from Saturn running rings around...yeah...it was a bad joke. But, then "Maximum" Bob Lutz came out — looking quite dapper in his standard "old man business casual" threads.

Lutz started by walking Letterman through his C.V., then moved on to talking about marine aviation and owning two jets — probably not the best way to be seen as a company making cars for average A.I.G.-hatin' Americans.

Now we get into the meat n' potatoes of the interview. Letterman starts by asking whether there's light at the end of the tunnel for the American automakers. Lutz responds by saying that yes, they'll be restructuring and come out the end of the tunnel "leaner and lighter."

Letterman doesn't powder-puff it per se, but he's not exactly hard-hitting. First asking what people losing auto jobs should be expecting, allowing Lutz to throw down with "jobs returning in time." Still, he's able to pivot into asking Lutz about whether this was Detroit mis-management that got us here. Lutz responds by claiming there's more at play and lots of blame to go around — gas prices being a big part of it, but also that U.S. automakers built some bad cars from the 60s, 70s and into the 80s. He finishes his answer by saying the best way to combat that perception is by building better automobiles. We couldn't agree more.

Lutz addresses the issue of CAFE first by talking about building the type of vehicles Americans want to buy and how that's a shifting target thanks to fuel prices and American desire for buying the biggest vehicle they can for the cheapest price. Next, he responds with a hell of a good analogy that we've clipped and have over on the left. Something about how fat people won't get skinny just because you mandate clothing makers only making skinny clothes. Cue the commercial break.

And we're back with Letterman asking whether the EV1 would have kept the company in business. Lutz responds by saying "Sadly, no." He details the cost per vehicle was probably well over $100,000 per vehicle — and that it was a money-losing proposition.

Now let's get to the crux of the debate — Musk's Tesla versus the Chevy Volt. Lutz talks about batteries, price and practicality are the reasons for why it's a better fit for the American public. He even gives pricing details saying it'll cost $40,000, minus a $7,300 tax credit. Let's watch that now — plus the Chevy commercial at the break to see why Letterman's throwing softballs in his old age.

Back from the break and Lutz showing off the Volt and stating it meets regulations for all countries of any kind. And then my DVR crapped out on me. Let's rate the performance on a five star scale with five being the best.

Bob Lutz staying on message: ****
He's got to lose one star for the whole "I own two jets" thing in the beginning, but overall, a helluva job for a 77 1/2 years-old white Swiss-born man who works for GM. No "global warming is a crock" quotes for us to have fun with.

Dave Letterman's balls: *
Where did they go? Did he lose them in surgery a while back? Seriously — even if he was woefully ill-informed in his questions, we'd expect him to at least ask them, right?

It's not the first time these two companies have partnered. This year at the Detroit Auto Show the two automakers agreed to a minor partnership for Tesla to provide the powertrains for a test run of electric smart cars. Now, with Daimler scooping up 10% of the new company, both automakers are now claiming the alliance will "make electro mobility a reality."

We're not entirely sure we buy that, but if there's one thing Tesla needs, it's a cash influx. An equity stake would help, but we think this is merely a preamble to allow Daimler to determine the viability of both the company and the technology before they go after the whole shebang. (Hat tip to Alex!) [via CNNMoney]

Photo Credit: Energy Rogue