According to Tesla CEO, Ze'ev Drori, the main reason for the Roadster's delay is the transmission. But don't worry, you will see it on the roads as soon as possible (production will start by summer of 2008 and first cars will be delivered at the beginning of 2009). It's true it will come with a temporary transmission that falls short of its originally promised performance.

A durable transmission that can maintain the original claims of 0-60 mph in 4 seconds is just not ready. In the interest of getting cars into the hands of owners, the company has decided to deliver the Tesla with a transmission that enables the car to do 0-60 in 5.7 seconds. Once the company has perfected a higher performance transmission that enables the Tesla to achieve 0-60 mph in 4 seconds, it will then retrofit all the delivered cars with the new transmission at the company's expense.