Tesla Stock Tumbles After Stock Report, Video of Model S on Fire
Electric car company Tesla suffered a 6 percent drop in its stock price on Wednesday, after a negative analyst report coupled with a publicized crash in Washington in which one of the company's Model S sedans caught fire.
Stock analysts at Baird downgraded the stock to "neutral" which sent stock prices downward, but which were furthered after video posted to auto Web site Jalopnik.com showed a Tesla Model S on fire near Seattle, Washington.
Tesla addressed the issue Thursday in a statement describing what happened.
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"Yesterday, a Model S collided with a large metallic object in the middle of the road, causing significant damage to the vehicle," the statement read.
Tesla explained that automatic alerts warned the driver to pull over and that the fire only began after the driver was out of the vehicle.
"All indications are that the fire never entered the interior cabin of the car," Tesla said in its statement. "It was extinguished on-site by the fire department."
The company had seen a recent string of good news topped with the fact that the Tesla Model S was the most sought after car of all major luxury brands in California in the first half of 2013.
The electric car outsold all models from other luxury brands including Porsche, Volvo, Jaguar, Lincoln and Land Rover.
4,714 new Tesla's were registered in the first six months of the year and beat out other popular models such as the Lexus GS and Audi A6.
California is the largest state for auto sales, and this year's sales are estimated to rise more than 10 percent over last year. The top-selling new car in the state was the Toyota Prius hybrid, with 33,987 so far in 2013.
The Model S starts around $70,000 and can reach north of $100,000 and is attracting the young and wealthy.
