Large domestic automakers aren't the only ones hard-pressed for cash.  Electric-car specialist Tesla Motors, based in Silicon Valley, California, announced yesterday that it is also running low on funding.

Though the firm had raised over $100 million from various investors, the company is facing a series of measures designed to, as a Tesla release stated, "be cash-flow positive within six to nine months."

While part of that plan surrounds ramping up production of the Lotus-sourced Roadster EV (only fifty have been delivered to date), the liquidity issue complicates many other aspects of the firm's existence.  Plans for a second model, a sedan named the Model S, are now officially on indefinite hold.  That also jeopardizes the construction of a $250 million factory in Silicon Valley, which was to build the Model S.

A number of job cuts are also in the pipeline, although the exact figure is still up in the air.  Early reports indicated that up to half of Tesla's staff of 200 could be eliminated, but Tesla's declined to give a hard figure.  Certainly, those employed in Tesla's engineering offices in Auburn Hills, Michigan, which will close as part of the restructuring, may be a significant portion of that figure.

In addition, Elon Musk - perhaps Tesla's biggest investor - is now being appointed as CEO, while Ze'ev Drori will be appointed as the company's vice chairman.

Source: Automotive News