darelldd is going to be SO envious!

The above is mostly true except that:

The original plan was to build just 2,500 Roadsters, and then to discontinue the Roadster and begin making the Model S. Tesla never intended to continue the Roadster, or to be a one-model company. Their long-range goal is and always has been to produce an affordable electric family sedan. But to reach that goal they had to start with an expensive, hand-built performance car; then an expensive sporty sedan.

Their contract with Lotus was for 2,400 gliders, 100 short of the original goal. They were later able to extend the contract to the full 2,500, which is why production was extended by 100 after the above-quoted press release.

I believe you can still custom-order a Roadster, but I am not certain of that. In addition, there are some "orphan" Roadsters and some Roadsters that Tesla built on speculation, without buyers, which are still in inventory. I actually bought the cheapest (fewest options) Roadster in national inventory on the day I visited the Seattle store. You cannot today buy one as cheaply as I did. But you can still buy a Roadster today.

Soon, however, they'll end Roadster production and switch to the Model S. And then, when inventory is sold out, you will no longer be able to buy one new. Depending on demand, a few may sit in inventory for a long time, however.

At some undetermined time in the future they will again build roadsters, but they will be an entirely different model.

Hope this clarifies it all.

 

My impression is that it would be in house. But that's just the opinion of one observer with no knowledge of their plans. Apparently, the glider for the Roadster came off the Lotus Elise production line, so Lotus didn't have to build anything special. For a new Roadster to have a Lotus body, Tesla would have to select an existing Lotus model that they wanted to work with.

I don't even know if a future roadster would be hand made, as the present one is, or not.

Again, just my opinion, but once Tesla is running the new plant, building the Model S, they'll have far more production resources than they have now, and will be in a better position to build all their own cars. OTOH, much of every car is produced by sub-contractors. So, who knows?

 

If I was gay, this would be a great pick-up car. The only girl who's even stopped to look at it when it was parked was a teenager with her dad. When I'm driving, girls don't even seem to notice. The Xebra got LOTS more attention. Kids loved the Xebra but show no interest in the Tesla. Yesterday when I dropped off the friend of a friend after giving him a ride, a 20-ish young man walking by stopped to take pictures and commented that he'd love to ride in it, so I gave him a ride. Women seem to have no interest in it.