Tesla: A Carmaker With Silicon Valley Spark

The tech veterans behind Tesla think they know a better way to build an electric car

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July 30, 2007 at 4:00 AM UTC

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It takes big car manufacturers four years to develop a new model. In that period of time, Tesla Motors Inc. has created a brand-new kind of car company--not to mention plenty of buzz.

Filling the niche for a green vehicle that isn't virtuously homely, Tesla has buyers standing in line to buy its sleek $98,000 electric sports car, which starts coming off the assembly line in October. The wait list now includes George Clooney, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Google Inc. (GOOG ) founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. They want to be the first in their neighborhoods to own the eerily quiet machine that can rocket from 0 to 60 in four seconds.