2020 Tesla Model S Long Range on 2040-cars

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Musk says New York Times debacle may have cost Tesla $100 million

Despite the old chestnut that there's no such thing as bad publicity, there's always a cost incurred - sometimes it's hidden, and sometimes it's front and center. Enigmatic Tesla CEO Elon Musk seems to think his company's now-infamous Model S range dustup with The New York Times is falling squarely into the latter category. According to Musk, fallout from the back-and-forth battle over the newspaper's cold-weather road trip story may have decimated Tesla's stock value by as much as $100 million. Musk believes the report resulted in a lot of cancelled orders, probably costing Tesla "a few hundred" Model S purchases.
According to the report, Tesla's shares have tumbled some 12 percent (going from $39.24 to $34.38) since the report was published. Bloomberg further notes that the company's market capitalization has skidded by around $553 million over that same period. With the company's stock-market value pegged at $3.91 billion, $100m represents a not insignificant chunk of money to Tesla.
So how does Musk feel about embattled Times writer John Broder, whose controversial report he previously called "fake"? During the interview with Bloomberg TV, which you can watch below, Musk opines, "I don't think it should be the end of his career - I don't even think necessarily he should be fired - but I do think he fudged an article." No word has surfaced about any actions taken against Broder after his boss admitted he did "not especially" exercise "good judgement" in the course of his reporting.

There are ways to sneak Tesla Model S into Russia for just 6.5M rubles

Tesla Fever has extended far and wide, winning over critics and everyday enthusiasts alike. The company is rapidly expanding its efforts both in its home market and abroad, but for some of its wealthy fans, that move isn't happening quite fast enough.
Dmitry Grishin is one such enthusiast. The 35-year-old multi-millionaire founder of Russia's Mail.ru is a big fan of Elon Musk's operation, so much so, in fact, that he's decided not to wait for sales to begin in the Russian Federation. Instead, he's gone off on his own and simply imported a Model S to get around Moscow.
The acquisition was not easy, as detailed by The Verge, and Grishin's car isn't quite as full-featured as a Model S sold in America - he's forced to use his phone's data connection rather than the car's . But, Grishin clearly has no regrets, spending a total of $180,000 to bring the EV to Moscow. In fact, Grishin has gone so far as to say he'd invest in the American EV manufacturer, if it hastened the brand's arrival in the motherland.

Tesla tires turning on Stretchla Vanagon EV conversion project

It is one thing to say you are going to Frankenstein a Tesla Model S with a pair of Siamese-twinned Volkswagen Vanagons and quite another to actually start taking your newly-acquired, smashed-up electric sedan apart in an effort to bring it back to life. Otmar Ebenhoech is doing just that, and having no small successes along the way. The Stretchla project, as it is being called, has officially started and our protagonist has put together another bit of video to document his progress and let us know about some of the different challenges he's encountered and conquered. While our original post about this endeavor featured video of the stretched Vanagon's drivetrain removal, this latest installment focuses on the Model S. Otmar received the Tesla in less-than-operable condition. Otmar received the Tesla in less-than-operable condition and has been tackling some of the basic problems one might expect to encounter: lots of error messages and an electrically disconnected battery pack. Without the aid of a manual or technical diagrams, he's removed the battery pack and discovered why it wasn't sending power to the car. Scroll below to watch the ten-minute presentation and celebrate some initial victories. You can also check out the official Stretchla blog for more photos and updates, including the most recent one that discusses how he talked himself into paying (*spoiler alert) $42,000 for a wrecked, non-functional electric car, along with more recent struggles with the steering rack. Hit us up in the comments to let us know what kind of trouble you would get into with a Model S drivetrain of your own. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.