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Posted by: Anthony Lim

Electric car maker Tesla Motors expects to raise US$185mil from its highly anticipated initial public offering of stock beginning the week of June 28 and an investment from Toyota Motors Corp, which will buy an additional US$50mil in Tesla stock immediately after the close of Tesla's public offering.

The Palo Alto, California company currently sells just the Roadster, a high-end car powered by lithium-ion batteries with a design based on the Lotus Elise two-seater sports car. It has sold just 1,063 Roadsters since 2008 and has lost US$290.2mil since the company was founded in 2003.

However, the company plans to start selling a mass-market luxury sedan starting in 2012 that is expected to cost US$49,900 after a US$7,500 federal tax credit. The company has said it expects continuing quarterly losses until the sedan, the Model S, hits the market. Tesla said it has already taken 2,200 reservations for the five-passenger sedan.

As part of the partnership with Toyota, Tesla will pay the Japanese automaker US$42mil for the shuttered New United Motor Manufacturing Inc auto plant in Fremont, California. The plant is a former joint venture between Toyota and General Motors, but GM withdrew from the joint venture when it filed for bankruptcy protection last year, leaving Toyota saddled with the idled facility.

Tesla said it plans to use the sprawling, 207-acre facility - most recently used to build the Pontiac Vibe and the Toyota Corolla and Tacoma - to build the Model S. In addition, the two companies have loose plans to work together later on another electric car.

After the release of the Model S, Tesla plans to continue expanding its lineup of electric cars with increasingly cheaper models. - AP