It already is in production:
http://www.teslamotors.com/media/press_room.php?id=841
... and I don't see how they failed, this definitely is the best electric car yet.
Yeaah, I agree with you. It's the best electric car yet and I would buy one if I had money for it!!! They already started to sell Roadster's at Europe (250 units for the road) but let's say that
# Price: 99,000 Euro (excluding VAT)*
# A 50,000 Euro refundable reservation fee is required to secure your position (see in
http://www.teslamotors.com/buy/resyourcar.php) isn't quite a fee that anyone can afford! Perhaps peopple from Monaco can afford it!... Not me! But it's the price to pay for new technology!
And for me Tesla just failed in one thing!!!... Well, try to live in a 8th floor and have no garage!!! I think it isn't a normal thing to put an electrical extension till the street from the 8th floor to get the car charged in 3.5 hours (I suppose it's this the value that they tell to be needed to charge the batteries). Oh well, we can't have everything, right!!!...
But I loved the sentence from them:
"How Long Does Your Cell Phone Take to Charge?
If you're like most people, you can't answer this question. You plug in your phone every night, and it's fully charged in the morning. You never think about how long it took so long as the charge lasts throughout the next day. Once you get into the habit, that"s the way you'll feel about your Tesla Roadster; every morning you'll wake up to a fully charged car, ready for whatever is on the day's agenda."
Because of that my Nokia battery is viced!
Though a great car to play with, I think!!!