Steve Parker Motoring / The Car Nut

TESLA RAISES $226 MILLION IN ONE-DAY STOCK OFFERING

It looks the little EV maker who could has done it again.

Just a few weeks after announcing an infusion of $50 million from Toyota, and a deal with Toyota to re-open the New United Motor Manufacturing plant where Teslas will be built, the company, headquartered in San Carlos, CA, today became the first U.S. carmaker to launch a public stock offering in 54 years. The stock surged almost 41 percent in its first day of trading even as broader markets were plummeting.

Tesla finished the day with a gain of $6.89, to $23.89 a share. Tesla, the electric car company that counts Daimler and Toyota among its shareholders, raised $226 million selling shares Monday above its forecast price range.

The maker of the $109,000 electric Roadster bought by Brad Pitt and George Clooney started trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker TSLA.
A Tesla dealership in trendy West Los Angeles, CA

The company will go through a fair chunk of 2011 without any products for sale, thanks to tooling changes at a supplier. Production will resume only in 2012 when the mass-market Model S comes online.

Tesla founder Elon Musk, a creator of PayPal, was in New York today and said his company could be profitable if it continued to make pricey sports cars, but is instead forgoing income to build a car aimed at mass-market commuters.

"A lot of people were puzzled about why we were going public without profits," Musk, dressed in jeans and an unbuttoned shirt, told reporters outside the Nasdaq building in Times Square, near several Tesla Roadsters.
Tesla founder Elon Musk with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger; the small car company has deep ties to big money as well as influential politicians

"The reason we are not profitable today is because we are in the midst of expanding with the Model S," Musk added.

Model S is a luxury electric sedan it plans to launch in 2012 and to sell starting from $57,400.

The IPO was the first by an American car company since Ford Motor Company in 1956. Until that time, Ford was owned exclusively by members of the Ford family.

General Motors is planning their own IPO to get the company back in public hands and out of the White House. The company has put a big push on new models for overseas markets in advance of the stock offering, expected at the end of this summer.

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

Big auto weekend means big, live call-in auto and racing radio shows

Steve Parker's The Car Nut Show
Saturday starting at 5pm Pacific on www.TalkRadioOne.com

You know all about SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers'' Association, don't you? The group which lobbies for car owners and performance enthusiasts in the halls of every state capitol and Congress? Well, maybe you don't! And you should! In either event, tune-in and call-in to our interview with Ethan Landesman. Plus, three California Highway Patrol motorcycle officers were involved in serious wrecks in Southern California in the past three days; one proved to be fatal. One other officer was critically injured; no official word yet on the third's condition. Tune-in to hear our guest expert! We'll talk about all that and more! Please join in! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410.
New assault rifle mount for BMW bikes ridden by the California Highway Patrol

Steve Parker's World Racing Roundup
Sunday starting at 5pm on www.TalkRadioOne.com

Long-time NHRA Funny Car drag racing champion Ron Capps joins us on-the-air for an exclusive talk with WORLD RACING ROUND-UP listeners! Don't miss this one! Also, results from all the major racing series in the USA and worldwide, from NASCAR to IndyCar, from F1 to the 78th Grand Prix of Endurance, aka the 24 Hours of LeMans, the world's greatest sports car race, held about 75 miles outside Paris (that'd be in France). Join us! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410. Join in!
Podcasts of the shows are available one-hour-or-so after the live programs' conclusion.
Ron Capps works at his office

That's this Saturday at 11am Pacific and 2pm Eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

WEEKEND RADIO AUTO SHOW LINE-UPS

Join us Saturday at 11am Pacific /2pm Eastern for THE CAR NUT SHOW and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern for WORLD RACING ROUNDUP on www.TalkRadioOne.com! It's just us and it's all LIVE!

Steve Parker's The Car Nut Show
Saturday starting at 5pm Pacific

This week: Another great American car brand has been killed, and this time it's not GM doing the slaughter. Tesla is selling battery car credits to Honda to cut Tesla's losses. Just what does that mean? And BMW has released details of their new X3 crossover. We'll talk about all that and more! Please join in! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410.
Mercury is dead

Steve Parker's World Racing Roundup
Sunday starting at 5pm

Racing hits its mid-season stride as the jockeying for position in the win categories gets serious and meaningful. Next huge event: 24 Hours of LeMans, the world's greatest endurance race. Dario Franchitti picks up a cool $2.75 million winner's check for his Indy 500 win and is Michael Schumacher worth the $10 million he's getting from Mercedes for one season of Formula 1 driving? Join us! The call-in number is: 213-291-9410. Join in!
Two-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti

Podcasts of the shows are available one-hour-or-so after the live programs' conclusion. That's this Saturday at 11am Pacific and 2pm Eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

Follow Steve Parker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/autojourno

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST - MERCURY KILLED

It's official: another U.S. car brand has been killed.

Going the way of Saturn, Oldsmobile, Pontiac, Hummer and Saab (so far), this time it's Mercury, part of the Lincoln-Mercury Division of Ford Motor Company. Some of the above have been sold-off, but still killed in the U.S. , though.

This past week, with Ford flying high and dealers relatively happy with their products, Alan Mulally and other top Ford execs figured it was a good time to kill the Mercury division and pay-off their dealers. Most all Mercury stores are also Lincoln dealers, so no one will be missing any meals.
From musclecar days comes this 1968 Mercury 428 Cyclone; at one time Mercury was big into NASCAR

Someone tell me what a 'Mercury" is, what are its values, its reputation? In other words, what does the name Mercury mean to the car-buying public?

I contend it's been a long, long time since Mercury had its own solid, well-defined image. But was it an upscale Ford or a downscale Lincoln? No one seemed to know since Mercury was founded in 1935 by Edsel Ford and came to market in 1939. After WWII, when sales of all cars were booming, Mercury was incorporated into a single division with Lincoln, and then the customer confusion really began.

Bad-boy Mercury's were all the rage throughout the 1940s and '50s with their customized gangster look and appeal and an overall sinister-appearing exterior. Mercury gained its own acceptance into the world of custom cars through the work of customizers and body-builders throughout the country who saw special potential in the cars. A "lead sled" Mercury owned by Bob Hirohata (the Hirohata Mercury) is one of the best-known and still-extant custom cars of any kind.
A Bad Boy 1949 Mercury

Though some of the facts about the Hirohata Merc may have been lost to history (as often happens with custom cars), the Mercury was built by Sam Barris, brother of the well-known George Barris, who to this day calls himself, "The King of the Kustomizers."

So Mercury had a shot to differentiate itself from boring Fords and expensive Lincolns, but the division never capitalized on the vast numbers of young people, potential future customers, who liked the Mercs they saw at car shows and in movies and TV shows. But the window closed in the mid-'50s and since that time no one really knew what a Mercury was.