Battery-Powered Tesla Sedan Will Be Made In USA

(MoneyWatch)  Tesla Motors Inc. says it will build a $250 million factory in San Jose, Calif., to build its own battery-powered sedan, with a goal of starting car production in late 2010.

Tesla called its five-passenger luxury sedan "Model S" in its Sept. 17 factory announcement. It is expected to have a base price of about $60,000, the company said.

Tesla's first car is the two-seat Tesla Roadster, which has a sticker price of $109,000. U.S. sales of the Tesla Roadster began recently. Tesla, which for now is based in San Carlos, Calif., said this month it had delivered about 30 cars since production of the Tesla Roadster began in March.

Thanks to a lawsuit Tesla filed in April against Fisker Automotive, a former Tesla contractor turned rival, we know that the Model S is likely the production version of a four-door concept car codenamed "WhiteStar" within Tesla.

Both sides agree that Tesla hired former BMW designer Henrik Fisker and his firm to work on the design of Project WhiteStar, and that Fisker later unveiled a hybrid electric car of his own, called the Fisker Karma, at the Detroit auto show in January 2008. Where they disagree is wheher Fisker stole any ideas for the Karma from Tesla. Tesla says he did, which Fisker denies.

Fisker announced in July it was hiring Valmet Automotive in Finland to build the $80,000 Karma, which is due to go on sale before the end of 2009. For its part, Tesla hired Lotus in the United Kingdom to build the Tesla Roadster.

Separately, Chrysler announced this week that it may sell the Dodge EV, a battery-powered version of the Lotus Europa model, as soon as 2010.

Tesla will put its headquarters, manufacturing, and research and development functions in the new facility in San Jose, said Tesla president and CEO Ze'ev Drori.