How Tesla Plans to Revolutionize the Electric Car

For Toyota, we already are providing the entire electric power train, and I think that's going to be an amazing product in the market. Those relationships, I would say have been mutually beneficial. Not only have we provided the power trains, we've learned a lot from them. It's also helped our own supply chain, getting access to cheap parts, and parts that are being purchased at high volumes by Toyota and Daimler, so we get the economies of scale from them. Beyond Toyota and Daimler, we certainly are in conversations with folks. It's a balance between our requirements and our resources required on our vehicles. As it becomes appropriate to announce something, we will.

Ciaccia: How important are the international markets to Tesla? China is consuming an astronomical amount of natural resources. Does Tesla have any plans to educate those consumers on the benefits of having an electric vehicle versus having an internal combustion engine? In terms of a revenue percentage, how do Tesla's revenues break down, domestic, versus international?

Ahuja: We've always considered the international markets important. Roughly half of our stores are located internationally, in Europe and Asia. The Roadsters we've sold in 30 countries, as you may have read. The Roadster has really helped us learn how to be an international company and create a presence in these countries. It serves as a terrific foundation for us as we launch the Model S internationally. The international markets are therefore important in our minds for Model S. We expect to get into Europe and Asia next year with the Model S.

China, as you said, is a huge market. There's also significant price premiums in China, because customers are willing to pay for premium products. We are exploring China, and we definitely expect to be there sometime, I would say, in the 2013 time-frame. I would say the process of getting into China is longer, given the local governments. It's hard to predict exactly when we'll be in China.

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--Written by Chris Ciaccia in New York

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