Los Angeles — Electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc. Monday increased the amount of stock to be sold in its initial public offering. The shares were expected to start trading today.
In an amended prospectus, the Palo Alto, Calif., company said it raised the planned size of the IPO to 13.3 million shares from 11.1 million shares.
The 20 percent boost suggests the company’s brokerage underwriters, led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., are seeing strong interest from investors.
The company kept the expected price range of the shares at $14 to $16 each.
The success of the sale depends on how much investors are willing to bet on a car company that has never made a profit, sells a single, pricey vehicle and expects to lose money until at least 2012.
But the Palo Alto, Calif., startup believes Americans’ taste in cars is changing. Most analysts agree with Tesla that the internal combustion engine will soon make room for greener forms of powering cars, such as electricity, as gas prices rise and environmental worries mount.
Tesla said the company itself would sell 11.9 million shares, raising as much as $190 million, before underwriting fees. Current shareholders, including Chief Executive Elon Musk, who made a fortune as a co-founder of PayPal Inc., planned to sell 1.42 million shares.
The filing said the IPO could be expanded by 2 million shares if demand was heavy enough. The additional shares would come from current shareholders.
The stock has been given the Nasdaq trading symbol TSLA.
The company introduced its first electric car, the $109,000 Roadster, in 2008. It has sold about 1,100 of the cars worldwide.
The IPO proceeds are to fund production of the company’s new vehicle, the Model S sedan, which is expected to sell for about $57,000. A federal tax credit of $7,500 for electric cars would cut the price to just under $50,000. The commercial launch is planned for 2012.
Tesla says the Model S will accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in just 5.6 seconds, making it among the quickest four-door sedans on the road. It is expected to get 160 to 300 miles on a single charge, depending on the version.
Associated Press contributed