2009 Frankfurt Auto Show: Tesla Gets $82.5 Million Investment to Expand Stores
By Scott Doggett September 15, 2009
Tesla Motors Inc., maker of a plug-in electric sports car that can accelerate to 60 miles per hour in 3.9 seconds, received an $82.5 million equity investment from a group led by Fjord Capital Management.
"It was an opportunistic investment," Elon Musk, chief executive officer of San Carlos, California-based Tesla, said today at the Frankfurt Motor Show. "We were not looking for money."
Daimler AG, which invested $50 million in Tesla this year along with Aabar Investments PJSC, the Abu Dhabi fund that's the German carmaker's biggest shareholder, contributed to the offering to keep its stake at just under 10 percent, Musk said.
The money may be used to fund Tesla's establishment of retail stores globally. The company, which introduced its all- electric roadster in February 2008, was profitable in the second quarter, Musk said.
No. 700 Goes to Student
Tesla Motors delivered its 700th Roadster today at the Frankfurt Motor Show, where the chief executive of the EV maker was on hand to present the vehicle.
CEO Elon Musk handed the keys of an electric-blue Roadster Sport like the one shown above to Lennart Hennig, a German law student in Bonn. Tesla has previously delivered cars to customers in England, Switzerland, France, Austria, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Spain, Monaco and Sweden .
"I am a socially responsible consumer who considers the environmental impact of my purchases," said Hennig, 24. "I plan to drive this car every day so that people can see for themselves that the future of mobility is electric."
The 700th delivery of the zero-emissions Roadster came less than a week after Tesla opened a store in Munich -- its first regional sales and service center in continental Europe. Tesla opened its flagship London store in June and will open a store in Monaco later this year.
LEAVE A COMMENT