"Tesla Sedan to be EV, Not Plug-in Hybrid, Says Company Exec" Green Car Advisor

Tesla Sedan to be EV, Not Plug-in Hybrid, Says Company Exec

There's been some grumbling and rumbling among the green group this week after automobile.com posted an item maintaining that electric car maker Tesla Motors had confirmed that its next model will be a plug-in gas-electric hybrid rather than a pure EV.

Relax, says says Tesla marketing veep Darryl Siry. The report was wrong.

The next Tesla, like the company's iconic Roadster, won't have anything to do with an internal combustion engine.

Tesla's long-awaited family-sized sedan -- formerly called the White Star but now dubbed the " Model S" -- will be a battery-electric vehicle, Siry said in a brief interview with Green Car Advisor.

The sedan - we suspect there will be a new, catchier name coming soon - is the Tesla electric vehicle that will be assembled in California under a tax-break deal announced earlier this year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

No production date has been revealed, although there's lots of speculation that Tesla is aiming at late 2010.

If "several" is closer to two than to three, Siry might have confirmed that today, telling us that that the Model S is "several years away" from hitting the streets.

He said that the company is shooting for an "entry level" price tag of around $60,000 but added that Tesla plans several trim levels that will be priced higher.

"And the $60,000 is our goal," he said, leaving lots of wiggle room. "Actual pricing will be announced much closer to production, and we're still several years away."

John O'Dell,Senior Editor