ElonMusk

In conjunction with the opening of its two newest stores in
Copenhagen, Denmark, and Newport Beach, California, Tesla has unveiled the fourth major production iteration of its only current product, the Roadster. Dubbed the Roadster 2.5, in proper Southern California fashion, the revised electric sports car gets a nose job and fanny lift.

For the first time in more than fifty years, a U.S. automaker is holding a public offering. Henry Ford made shares of Ford Motor Company public back in 1956. Tesla, the Elon Musk-owned Silicon Valley electric car company, filed to do so today. There's no word as to when the shares will be available for public consumption, nor any word as to how much each share will cost.

Go to Frankfurt, get $82.5 million. That's sort of what happened to Tesla Motors, which is at the big Frankfurt Motor Show this week and received an "opportunistic" equity investment in that amount from a group led by Fjord Capital Partners. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that his company was "not looking for money," but did not turn down the offer.

The only thing surprising about Martin Eberhard's latest move is that it took so long to happen. Eberhard was co-founder of Tesla Motors along with Mark Tarpenning, and he was ousted from the company in November 2007 by then-chairman Elon Musk. Musk has never been one to hide his feelings about other people (or much of anything) - and comments he has made about Eberhard and his role in the company have clearly not gone over well.

Since it was announced that the highly quotable Bob Lutz would be departing from his General Motors management spotlight, automotive bloggers and reporters everywhere have been mourning the loss of an executive with such an exquisite way with words. Now it appears that the pining may have been premature, thanks to the emergence of another top management type with the brass, it seems, to freely speak his mind in public.

Detroit isn't the only place in the U.S. where struggling automakers are looking for government handouts. Tesla Motors, Silicon Valley's one and only auto manufacturer, is looking for an initial injection from the government of $350 million, which is slated to fund the development and necessary manufacturing facilities for its upcoming Model S sedan with another $200 million to produce lithium-ion batteries plus $100 million to expand its growing drivetrain business. It's still early, but we're pretty sure that equals a cool $650 mil.

Click above for high-res gallery from Tesla's Flagship Store grand opening