Tesla Takes Auto Retail High-Tech With Digital Design Studio

PALO ALTO, CA--April 20, 2011: Tesla Motors launched the Design Studio, a tool that allows consumers to customize, view and share their own Tesla electric vehicles on the web, on their smartphones and iPads, and at Tesla stores. Using HTML5 for cross-platform compatibility, the Design Studio makes the buying experience flexible, engaging and interactive. It is located on Tesla's website at Tesla Motors Roadster Desgin.

“It's the most advanced configurator any automaker has come up with, letting you choose exactly what you want, look at it from every angle, and see it in the wild.”

Visitors to the Design Studio on the Tesla website can build their dream Roadster, choosing hard top or soft top, paint color, interior design, wheels, and more. When done, they can view how their photo-realistic Roadster looks on the road against three outdoor backdrops. Customers can share their design via social media channels or email, or place an order -- from anywhere in the world.

The Design Studio is also available on iPad and mobile. Product specialists at Tesla showrooms are equipped with iPads to walk prospective customers through the process and explore their options. Tesla's new Santana Row showroom also offers the Design Studio on touchscreen displays that allow customers to 'throw' their design to a large screen at the back of the store with a swipe of their hand.

"The Design Studio's goal is to personalize the Tesla experience," said George Blankenship, Tesla's VP of Sales and Ownership Experience. "It's the most advanced configurator any automaker has come up with, letting you choose exactly what you want, look at it from every angle, and see it in the wild."

Tesla's internal web team collaborated with digital marketing agency Odopod to build advanced features into the Design Studio, including:

• Seamless integration between platforms, allowing users who build their cars online to call up saved designs on other devices or in the showroom.
• Graphics that push the boundaries of realism, giving users an authentic experience.
• Single-screen editing, allowing users to mix and match features without progressing through a number of screens or needing to backtrack.
• Unique interior and exterior pairing, so that users can see how the interior of their car would look from the outside and vice versa.
• An extensible platform that will allow Model S to be added to the Design Studio.

Tesla's Design Studio is consistent with the company's new retail strategy that launched with the Santana Row showroom. Reinventing the car-buying experience, this strategy focuses on digital interactivity and educating prospective customers about Tesla's advanced electric powertrain technology and vehicle engineering.

About Tesla

Tesla's goal is to produce a full range of electric cars, from premium sports cars to mass-market vehicles -- relentlessly driving down the cost of electric vehicles. It is currently the only automaker in the United States that builds and sells highway-capable EVs in serial production. Palo Alto, California-based Tesla designs and manufactures EVs and EV powertrain components. Tesla has delivered more than 1,500 Roadsters to customers in North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific Region. The Tesla Roadster accelerates faster than most sports cars yet produces no emissions.