The Model S is already on pre-order sale and should be launched by late 2011 if there aren’t any major development stumbles. The prototype will be previewed next month at Tesla's design studio inside CEO Elon Musk's SpaceX rocket factory in Hawthorne, California. It will be a 'street-drivable’ version and will look almost like the final production model.
Speaking recently via an internal company blog, Musk said the company is doing well and that all should be on schedule for Model S production now that government funding is on the way. The $40 million round of financing secured last year is twice what Tesla needed to achieve profitability, says the company, though it's still well short of the money it needs to build a new manufacturing facility for the Model S. So short in fact that Tesla has applied for a $350 million loan from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for the construction of the plant. The details of that story can be found here.
Tesla also used today’s pricing announcement to reveal that it has delivered its 250th Roadster. The vehicle was bought by Dr. Rob Wilder of Encinitas, California, who uses an array of solar panels at his home to charge the car.