Wow, that’s something interesting. Though actually we were wondering when will the first tuning programs for electric cars show up. And it looks like German tuner Brabus, specialized in programs for Mercedes cars is among the first ones to announce a tuning program for the Tesla Roadster. No power upgrades here, only a series of styling upgrades. These include a “space sound generator” that makes the Tesla sound as if powered by a mighty V8, race car engine or “Beam” and “Warp” futuristic sounds. Brabus has also fitted the car with LED running lamps, underbody neon lighting, a rear wing, new wheels (18 inch on the front and 19 at the rear), plus a matte white paint finish. The outcome depends a lot on each person’s tastes, but all in all we think it’s a decent upgrade and it shows that electric cars are ready to go mainstream. Of course, that doesn’t mean Tesla is ready, because they have a lot of problems on their hands now, not to mention that there haven’t been many Roadsters available so far.

Photo Gallery: Tesla Roadster tuning by Brabus

Read More: "Brabus presents tuning program for the Tesla Roadster"

We took quite a few cars for test drives and we had a lot of fun doing that. However, sometimes test drives go wrong and there’s no fun in that. After some time ago we saw a Dutch journalist wrecking an Audi R8, this time we have a Tesla Roadster crashed by one of their own. Apparently, a Tesla sales director took a passenger for a demonstration in southern France last Wednesday, when he lost control of the car and crashed it. Beside the fact that the car was going around 100 mph (160km/h), the road was also wet and the visibility was poor. Though the car looks pretty banged up, both passengers survived: the driver suffered a broken hand an minor bruises, while the passenger was released from hospital after some investigations.

Photo Gallery: Tesla Roadster crash in France

Read More: "Tesla Roadster crashed in France"

Yesterday, San Jose authorities approved the lease of nearly 90 acres of city-owned land and Tesla Motors announced that they’re planning on building a $250 million facility in California, where they’ll assemble the upcoming Model S electric sedan. Tesla was planning on building the plant in New Mexico, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Treasurer Bill Lockyer worked out a tax break for the Silicon Valley company. Actually, Arnie is such a big fan of the project that he, along with several other celebrities, like George Clooney and Kelsey Grammer, allready placed their orders for the Roadster.

According to Tesla, the new facility will create around 1,000 jobs and will produce 1,500 Roadsters starting next year and 15,000 Model S, after the electric luxury sedan will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2010. Though the Model S will be priced at around $60,000, Tesla’s CEO Ze’ev Drori announced that they’re also planning on creating cheaper and more affordable electric cars, that could appeal to a larger audience. “It is our intention to service the entire market [..] We are not a niche player. We are going to work down the road on cars which will be substantially less expensive again.”

Read More: "Tesla chose California for its Model S electric sedan production"

In case you haven’t heard, the Tesla Roadster is the first electric sports car to enter production soon. Finally we can say good bye to all the ugly little cars and save the planet in a stylish and sporty way. But untill you can make your deposit for the car, you can see how it performs in the crash tests. Even though they were unplanned ! Looks like the first Tesla crash took place in San Francisco. Fortunatelly nobody got injured, but the poor car got squashed between a Mercedes and a Toyota Camry. That’s a shome, considering that only nine Tesla cars were manufactured so far. You can see for yourself in the photos what happened.

Would you buy one ?
Read More: "The first Tesla crash happend in San Francisco"

Yesterday, at the San Mateo Superior Court in California, Tesla Motors filed suit against Fisker Automotive. Henrik Fisker, the creator of the Fisker Karma, was hired last year by Tesla to design its upcoming electric sedan, called WhiteStar. According to Tesla, the reason Fisker accepted this job was “to gain access to confidential design information and trade secrets, then announced a competing vehicle”.

After the Tesla Roadster was successfully launched, the company announced that next year or in 2010 they’ll also introduce an all-electric passenger sedan, priced somewhere between $50,000 and $70,000. Apparently, after Tesla found out that Fisker is about to create a competitor for the WhiteStar, they’ve fired him, decided to dump his original design and started working on another one.

So far, no official reaction from Fisker, but stay tuned because we’ll keep you informed in this interesting case.

Read More: "Tesla Motors to sue Fisker"

We’ve got good news for Europe. Though Tesla was planning to bring the Tesla Roadster to Europe someday, we didn’t know exactly when that was going to happen. But today, InnovationBeat reaports that Darryl Siry, VP of marketing, sales and service at Tesla, announced that, because of the dollar losing ground to the Euro, they’ll bring the Roadster to Europe earlier than planned.

The reason for this action is that the Tesla Roadster’s components are sourced abroad and a lot of the construction is being done in Hethel, England. And with the dollar getting very weak compared to the Euro, selling the car to Europe as fast as possible will provide the company a better balance between income and cost currencies.

Still, considering that all the 900 models that’ll be produced this year are already taken, Europe will see its first Tesla Roadster next year. We don’t know yet what countries will get the car first, but InnovationBeat says that, because of the tax incentives offered on low-emission vechiles, Norway and Sweden are favorites.

Though production started last week, Tesla is currently building just one car per week and will keep it like this for a month or two. “We’re doing intensive quality control along the way,” Siry said “We’ll ramp it up to two a week, then five a week. That’s normal. You only ramp up one you’re satisfied everything is up to quality.”

Priced at $98,000, Tesla hopes to produce and sell about 1,800 units next year and they also plan on presenting a four-doors sedan in 2010.

Read More: "Tesla Roadster heading to Europe"

Who would’ve thought that, about two years ago, when the first Tesla Roadster prototype was unveiled, that this day will come? Because yesterday, March 17th, was the official day the Tesla Roadster production started. And that’s not all, because Tesla also announced that they have orders for all the cars that will be produced this year (about 900 units) and already started taking orders for 2009.

Tesla also wants to expand their range of electric vehicles and in 2010 they’ll present a new car, a five passenger sports sedan. Congratulations to Tesla and we wish them all the luck, because they really got a great car.

You can read the full press release after the jump, plus you can read here Mr. Ze’ev Drori’s (Tesla’s president and CEO) thoughts on this great moment in Tesla history.

Read More: "Tesla Roadster production starts"

Looks like the Tesla Roadster is one step closer to production, because the car managed to pass all the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) crash tests. These standards are slightly different for electric vehicles, comparing to the regular gasoline powered cars, because it requires attention paid to the spillage of electrolyte and avoidance of electric shock, while the regular cars need only to avoid fuel spillage. That meant the Tesla had to take extra care of the ESS (battery box), by protecting it better and also having safety systems within the ESS itself.

During the FMVSS testing, the Tesla Roadster had to pass about 40 tests, among which were the “Windshield Defrosting and Defogging” (which means that, after the vehicle is started, specific areas of the windshield have to be cleared in a specified time and which the car passed without problems, due to the electrically powered PTC heating system, which start heating the windshield as soon as the car is started), “Rear View Mirrors” (important rearward areas must be visible via the mirrors), “Flammability of Interior Materials”, “Lights” (the front lights need to meet the FMVSS prescribed intensity and lighting pattern to provide sufficient illumination and avoid dazzling oncoming traffic).

Also, on January 16, 2008, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) issued a “Certificate of Conformity with the Clean Air Act of 1990” to Tesla Motors Inc. So we have some big steps made by the Tesal Roadster on it’s way to production.

Check out more photos from the crash tests after the jump.

Read More: "Tesla Roadster passes FMVSS crash tests"