2018 Tesla Model X 100d on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Supra successor may be all-electric sourced from Tesla; MR2 returning too?

Rumors of a revival of the Toyota Supra and MR2 have been swirling for years right up until just this week when high-level Toyota employees all but confirmed their return.
But now The Detroit Bureau has put together news from different sources suggesting that the next Supra might be all electric. The report cites recent comments from Toyota senior executives hinting at plans to work with Tesla on a new joint project. The FT-HS Concept (shown above) seems a logical inspiration for a new Supra.
And on the other side of the equation is Tesla's design chief Franz von Holzhausen who was quoted last year saying his company was looking at its next project, probably a sports car, that would follow next year's intro of the Model X. He went on to suggest the car would compete directly with BMW's 3 Series, which, in coupe form, could be a worthy competitor to a Supra as well.

In hindsight, Musk wouldn't use Lotus for Tesla Roadster

The world will be a different place after Elon Musk builds a time traveling device (don't ask us how we know that will happen). For one thing, the Tesla Roadster of the rewritten future will not have been built using the chassis of the Lotus Elise. Also, verb tenses will be becoming even more confusing and, possibly, awkward. "We ended up changing most of the damn car" – Elon Musk We know about the not-using-the-Lotus thing because the Tesla Motors CEO said as much yesterday at the World Energy Innovation Forum at the Tesla Factory in Fremont. The two-day event, which also offers Model S test rides and a factory tour for attendees, featured a fireside chat with the electric automaker's CEO and Ira Ehrenpreis. During the discussion, Musk revealed that if he had to do it over again, he would have built the Roadster from the ground up instead of using the Lotus Elise chassis. "We ended up changing most of the damn car, so we thought later, why did we do that," he said. Another problem with the original idea for the car was the drivetrain. At first, Tesla had meant to use the motor and other propulsive bits from AC Propulsion, only to find that powertrain didn't work well in a commercial application. Instead Tesla only licensed the reductive charging patent, which allowed some integration of the inverter and charger. Besides knocking Tesla's own early efforts, the outspoken entrepreneur took a couple swings at other technologies with quotable quotes such as: "The internal combustion engine is a ridiculous thing!" and "Current lithium ion technology is better than theoretical fuel cell limits. So, game over. Why bother with fuel cells?" Looks like there are some things Musk is not interested in going back in time and changing.

Tesla Stock Hits All-Time High Hours Before Fifth Car Fire Reported

A Tesla Model S caught fire while parked in its owner's garage in Toronto earlier this month. This marks the fifth car fire in five months for the California automaker, according to CNBC. On Feb. 1, a four-month-old Model S was parked and unplugged in a garage when its owner heard the fire alarm go off. The car was quickly engulfed in flames. The fire damaged the garage and nearly destroyed another vehicle. Toronto Fire Service tells CNBC the engine area was the source of the blaze. Tesla is investigating the fire, and issued a statement to Business Insider reminding consumers that every automotive company expects to deal with car fires at some point and that gasoline cars experience higher car fires than Tesla on average. There have been no deaths due to the fires. Five Teslas have caught fire in the last five months, two were started when their battery packs were punctured by debris in the road. A ho-hum third-quarter in 2013 and news of the fires caused the stock price to dwindle to $120 a share. The company recently reclaimed much of that ground, surging for the first time past $200 a share just this week, Autoblog Green reported. Related: Tesla Model S Test Drive | TRANSLOGIC Related Gallery The Top Ten Best Green Cars -- And 3 Clunkers View 14 Photos Tesla fire engine stock stocks