Electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors has had its ups and downs in recent months. It may still be in the red and facing the wrath of traditional dealers over its Apple-like stores, but its Model S received a lot of praise, and unlike rival Fisker Automotive, it hasn’t been involved in massive (and image-damaging) recalls.
What it does have in common with Fisker, though, is federal agencies questioning their spending of federal loans. According to a report from The Washington Times, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has been conducting an investigation on Tesla for nearly a year.
Tesla received a US$465 million federal loan from the Department of Energy (DoE) in early 2010. ICE investigators were, according to a DoE inspector general memo, “looking into whether Tesla Motors is using foreign-made parts in manufacturing their vehicles rather than U.S-made parts.”
The records obtained by the newspaper under the Freedom of Information Act show that an ICE official said the agency “was proactively investigating” whether Tesla used its foreign trade zone status to bypass loan requirements that it must buy American, not foreign, products.
Foreign trade zones were created in the 1930s and are certain designated areas where products can be imported without the usual custom duties and procedures. Federal records show that Tesla’s application for a “sub-zone” in San Jose’s foreign trade zone was approved on September 20.
The DoE eventually told ICE investigators that the federal loan received by Tesla was part of a federal appropriations bill and not President Obama’s stimulus program. As such, its two-page summary concluded, it “does not have the same ‘buy American’ requirement”.
Tesla has made no mention of a government investigation, though, in all fairness, the documents do not show that it was informed about it by the DoE. Nevertheless, its spokeswoman declined to comment when questioned by The Times last Monday and her ICE counterpart, Gillian Christensen, said that “as a matter of policy, we neither confirm nor deny the existence of ongoing investigations.”
For the record, Tesla has made no secret that it uses Panasonic-supplied batteries, and so does Ford in its new Fusion and C-MAX Hybrid and Hybrid Energi models.
By Andrew Tsaousis
11 Comments:
This is a non-story about a faux investigation concerning a Buy-American provision that the DOE itself said over a year ago did not apply to the Tesla loan.
WHAT IS VERY INTERESTING HOWEVER, IS THE TIMING OF THIS "STORY".
Tesla Motors is the most highly shorted stock on the NASDAQ. So a lot of people stand to lose serious money if the price of the stock goes up. It's quite a coincidence that Elon Musk twittered that Tesla went cash flow positive the evening before this non-story broke.
Tesla has quite an interesting set of backers -- Toyota, Daimler, Panasonic, Goldman Sachs. And today through a 13G SEC filing (http://ir.teslamotors.com/secfiling.cfm?filingid=1086364-12-3154), we see that BlackRock, Inc. (the world's largest asset manager with $3.7 TRILLION in assets) has just purchased 5% percent of Tesla. Over 5.6 million share worth about $193 million.
With the "smart money" buying Tesla stock, is it really any wonder that some well-connected "shorters" promoted a bogus investigation story to give themselves some time to get out of their short positions?
This news is 1 year old, and the investigation is long time over and showed that tesla did nothing wrong.
I would be carefull with such news, this can be considered Stock manipulation.
And I consider it stock manipulation and will forward this the authorities.
1year old story that was dismissed.
I advise everyone to read the original article from the Washington Times and not regurgitated crap from carscoop.
Carscoop wrote "the Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been conducting an investigation on Tesla for nearly a year." That is false, a lie. Washington Times never wrote anything like that.
If you read the government's Executive Brief Report, the investigation lasted less than 3 weeks and was closed 1 year ago. The DOE told ICE that Tesla's loan does not have the buy American requirement.
http://media.washtimes.com/media/misc/2012/12/03/tesla_ig.pdf
It has been publicly announced that Mercedes-Benz and Panasonic supply parts to Tesla. If they were not adhering to the loan agreement, surely the government would done something by now.
Yawn, the Tesla Model S is the most revolutionary on the road since the Model T. It is the most technologically advanced car ever. If there is a car in America that does not have foreign parts I'd love to see it. It does not exist.
This appears much like the political season where the opposite side makes a mountain out of a mole hill.There are a lot of competing companies and industries that would love to see Tesla fail. Place the oil industry and the major auto makers at the top of the list. Oh, those same auto makers that just got a major bail out from the US government.
I admire Elon Musk for thumbing his nose at the conventional and turning the automotive industry on it's head. When you purchase a Tesla you order it online and they deliver it to your door. No dealer, no middleman, no haggling. It's a breath of fresh air. Soon Tesla owners will be able to drive coast to coast using quick charging stations to charge up for free. No pumping gas and there is no charge for the fuel.
Yawn, when you guys can come up with a concrete criticism of Tesla or Elon Musk I'd love to hear it.
I just checked the label on my bum ... wait ... even I contain some parts made in China (and other places - middle east to be exact) ... plus kudos to Elon Musk, he's the closest thing we have to a real life Howard Stark ;) If I had the cash I'd buy a model S today =)
This "investigation" was closed a year ago. See http://www.torquenews.com/1075/foreign-parts-investigation-against-tesla-closed-year-ago-finding-nothing-wrong .
WHAT IS VERY INTERESTING HOWEVER, IS THE TIMING OF THIS OLD "NON-STORY".
Tesla Motors is the most highly shorted stock on the NASDAQ. So a lot of people stand to lose serious money if the price of the stock goes up.
IT'S QUITE A COINCIDENCE THAT ELON MUSK TWITTERED THAT TESLA WENT CASH FLOW POSITIVE THE EVENING BEFORE THIS OLD "NON -STORY" BROKE.
Tesla has quite an interesting set of backers -- Toyota, Daimler, Panasonic, Goldman Sachs. And yesterday through a 13G SEC filing, we see that BlackRock, Inc. (the world's largest asset manager with $3.7 TRILLION in assets) has just purchased 5% percent of Tesla. Over 5.6 million share worth about $193 million. See http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2012/12/07/blackrock-buys-a-stake-in-tesla/ .
With the "smart money" buying Tesla stock, is it really any wonder that some well-connected "shorters" promoted an old bogus investigation story to give themselves some time to get out of their short positions?
To continue to post this old non-story is pure stock manipulation.
Has anybody noticed the author of the article, Andrew Tsaousis, has yet to respond to our comments or defend his story?
I say he knows his article lacks accuracy and truthfulness, the minimum standards of journalism.
We sent an email to Tesla Motors on Friday regarding the Washington Times article. When the company responds we will post an update.
After reading the Washington Times article and Andrew's article, it was clear that your writer fabricated part of his story and misled his readers.
Tesla's response won't justify his actions.
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