Tesla Decision on Model S Factory Site Close; EV Maker Names 3 More Executives
By Scott Doggett August 31, 2009
The factory where Tesla Motors will make its all-electric, zero-emissions Model S sedan will be located in the Southern California cities of Long Beach or Downey, with a decision possibll as early as next week.
The plant, which is expected to bring 1,000 to 1,200 engineering and assembly jobs to the recession-plagued state, is scheduled to open in 2011. California has a 12.1 percent unemployment rate, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In an interview with the Long Beach Press-Telegram, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said both cities were finalists for the plant. Musk said the possible locations were Long Beach's former Boeing 717 aircraft plant, which ceased production in 2006, or a former NASA production site next to Downey Studios.
Possibly complicating the Long Beach deal is an alternative city plan to convert the Boeing plant into a movie studio. Musk did not comment on which city had the inside edge. A Tesla source told Green Car Advisor today not to expect "any news on Model S facility this week, but we are close."
The Tesla source said the company is very serious about hitting the publicized $57,400 base price for the Model S and would reconsider an otherwise suitable site for the EV's production if the cost of leasing the site would jeopardize the base price.
Funding for the plant for the Model S, which is expected to have a 300-mile range between charges, will likely come from a recent $465 million low-interest loan Tesla received from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Community leaders in the Northern California city of Fremont, home to the soon-to-be-shuttered NUMMI joint venture between Toyota and General Motors, also have appealed to Tesla.
But the company said NUMMI's 5 million square feet is far too large for Tesla's needs. Both Southern California sites are about 1 million square feet.
3 Executives Named
Tesla, which currently has about 150 job openings, named three executives today.
Audi executive John Walker, 46, has joined Tesla as vice president for North American sales. The German carmaker had rapidly promoted Walker through sales leadership roles in Australia, Canada and then the U.S., Audi's largest market, where he was general manager of sales operations prior to joining Tesla.
Google executive Ricardo Reyes will join Tesla as vice president for communications, starting in mid-September. Reyes, 35, is head of global communications and public affairs at YouTube, one of the premier destinations online and a subsidiary of Google. He previously handled litigation, competition and policy communications for the online search, services and products company.
Silicon Valley executive Jon Sobel, 45, will join Tesla as general counsel and board secretary, starting in late September. Sobel is currently group president for media of SourceForge, an open source and social media company. There, he spearheaded an innovative business strategy to strengthen the company's twin roles as a community trust and a for-profit public company.
Previously, Sobel was a key strategist at CBS Interactive Media, he was partner at San Francisco-based law firm Folger Levin & Kahn, and he spent six years as a top executive at Internet search pioneer Yahoo, where he was senior vice president, general counsel, board secretary and a member of the executive committee.
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