Tesla stock offering seeks to raise 244 million dollars

Tesla Motors, the money-losing US electric carmaker, is seeking to raise up to 244 million dollars as it becomes on Tuesday the first US automotive company to go public in more than 50 years.

The Palo Alto, California-based automaker, which is to be listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol "TSLA," revised the terms for its initial public offering in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday.

Tesla said it plans to offer 13.3 million shares, up from 11.1 million previously, priced at up to 16 dollars. Additional shares could see Tesla raise as much as 244.7 million dollars.

Japan's Toyota has already agreed to take a 50-million-dollar stake in Tesla, purchasing 3.33 million shares in the company.

Founded in 2003 by South African Elon Musk, a co-founder of online payments giant PayPal and SpaceX, whose Falcon 9 rocket blasted off on its maiden voyage this month, Tesla specializes in environmentally friendly electric cars.

The Tesla Roadster, a high-performance sports car, costs more than 100,000 dollars and can go nearly 250 miles (400 kilometers) on a single charge.

In its SEC filing, Tesla said it had sold 1,063 Tesla Roadsters to customers in 22 countries as of March 31.

Tesla is also making a "Model S" five-passenger sedan powered by lithium-ion battery packs capable of between 160 and 300 miles (257 and 482 kilometers) per charge.

The Model S, expected in 2012, has an anticipated base price of around 50,000 dollars.

According to the documents filed with the SEC, Tesla has generated total revenue of 147.6 million dollars since it was founded and has accumulated a deficit of 290.2 million dollars.

The company said it had a net loss of 55.7 million dollars last year.

German luxury carmaker Daimler took a 10-percent stake in Tesla in May of last year and sold 40 percent of its stake in July to Aabar Investments group of the United Arab Emirates.

Last year, Tesla received a 465-million-dollar loan from the US Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Incentive Program to help it build the Model S.

Tesla is the first US auto company to go public since Ford did so in 1956.