We received a heads up overnight that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be making an appearance later today at Tesla Motors headquarters in San Carlos, CA. According to the notice from Tesla, Schwarzenegger will make an announcement regarding the manufacturing strategy for the WhiteStar sedan. Given this announcement and what chairman Elon Musk told us last week about plans to centralize production of its cars, it seems almost certain that the factory originally planned for Albuquerque, NM will never materialize. Instead it appears the sedan will be built at a factory somewhere in the Bay Area close to Tesla's headquarters. CEO Ze'ev Drori may even reveal the name of the new car (don't get too excited about this one folks) and hopefully give us a glimpse of what it looks like. Autoblog's Damon Lavrinc will be on site at Tesla HQ at 11:30 PST with all the gory details.

[Source: Tesla Motors]

Click above for high-res live gallery of the Fisker Karma

For more than year, fans of Tesla Motors hoping for a more practical and affordable (relatively speaking) electric vehicle have been waiting for details on project WhiteStar. Rumors have run the gamut from something based on a Ford Fusion (no dice) to outright cancellation (not yet). The only consistent element has been the intention to build a battery-powered four-door sedan. The latest rumor to crop up has been that the styling of the car was the work of one Henrik Fisker. You might recall that Fisker unveiled a styling buck for a planned plug-in hybrid sedan bearing his own name at this years Detroit Auto Show.

As the story goes, Fisker was contracted by Tesla to design the bodywork for the WhiteStar, then later dismissed by the San Carlos company. Tesla VP Darryl Siry declined to confirm or deny the veracity of the story. Our sources however indicate the final look of the WhiteStar retains nothing of Fisker's drawings. Siry has confirmed that Tesla will reveal the WhiteStar later this spring after they have begun customer deliveries of the Roadster. The new sedan will start off as a battery-only vehicle but it is being designed to accommodate a range extended configuration as well.

[Source: Street Import Online, via Autoblog]

Up until now, we've had the price breakdown of Tesla Motors' products as follows:

• 2007-2008 Roadster - $92,000-$100,000
• 2010 WhiteStar - $50,000
• 2013 (?) sedan compact - $30,00

Obviously, with the WhiteStar and the later sedan compact not ready until a few years down the road, things are likely to change. And change they have. CNet is reporting that the base price for the standard WhiteStar will remain "close" to $50,000, but the premium model will run ya between $65,000 and $70,000. And for the extra twenty grand, you get a faster 0-60 time (by only by .7 seconds. Yes, that's point-seven Tesla has let us know it's going to be more than .7 seconds the performance specs are not yet finalized, but that the higher-end version will be able to accelerate quicker and have a higher range. David Vespremi, Tesla's Director of Public Relations, tells us that, "the difference between the two is analogous to a base 5 series and M5 - so the implication that we misled anyone by increasing the
price is not accurate. From inception, WhiteStar has always been planned - and talked about - as a platform on which we would have both a base model and a higher-spec variant (at a corresponding higher price)." I hope by using his own words I can stop making mistakes) and other upgrades. We'll know more the closer we get to the 2010ish WhiteStar release date.

Click through to CNet to see how a $65,000 car fits in the American auto market.

UPDATE: Sorry for the errors there, folks. Trying to write too quickly today.
UPDATE 2: Added more clarifications, because I can't seem to get things right today.

Related:

• Tesla officially declares Albuquerque to be WhiteStar, USA

[Source: CNet]

The bidding war is over, and Albuquerque, New Mexico is now officially the location of the new WhiteStar electric sedan factory. This location is not a complete surprise, as we reported two days ago, but I'm sure folks in North Carolina and elsewhere are disappointed.

The WhiteStar plant will employ 400 people, and Governor Richardson is glad to report they will be "high wage" jobs that pay between $24,000 and $100,000 a year, and have "excellent benefits and stock options." Construction on the plant will start, at the latest, by April. There's no word on when the first WhiteStars will roll off the line, but Tesla Motors has never been a company that moves slow.

Tesla's official notice on the plant opening is here.

Related:

• New Mexico official reportedly preparing for Tesla to open factory in Albuquerque
• Tesla close to deciding on a location for new factory

[Source: Tesla Motors]