Gary Zhou 
Bidding for a trio of abandoned Tesla Roadsters has come to a close, and the winning bidder will pay nearly $1,000,000 for the three vehicles.
Gruber Motors was responsible for the three vehicles and the bidding, as the Tesla Roadsters were found in a shipping container in China with no miles on the odometer.
Early on, details regarding the three vehicles remain slim. However, a few days ago, Gruber found new information regarding the three OG Roadsters. They were bought by a Chinese automotive group that is now defunct and were likely headed there for research and development purposes.
Bidding for the three Roadsters started earlier this month and quickly swelled to a sum of over a half million dollars. However, the group of cars’ final bid was received on May 24 at $800,000.
No new bids were received by Gruber.
Interestingly, there is evidence that a fourth vehicle was supposed to be included in the shipment, but it appears to be disassembled as a group or shared multiple images of Roadster parts wrapped in bubble wrap.
The sum of $800,000 for the three cars and a disassemble fourth seems relatively low. We thought the three vehicles would go for well over $1 million, especially considering the last one ever built went for roughly $1.5 million.
However, the winning bidder was able to take the three Roadsters for just south of that.
The OG Tesla Roadster is a crucial part of the company’s history. CEO Elon Musk detailed the vehicle years ago with Jay Leno, stating it was simply a Lotus body with an EV battery.
But the Roadster was an integral part of Tesla’s history, as it was somewhat of a fundraising campaign for future vehicle designs. Its quarter-million dollar price tag in 2008 essentially reserved it for the rich and famous, and it was bought by many celebrities.
Tesla sparred with production issues of the vehicle as it nearly bankrupt the company. However, investors put more money into the electric automaker, which kept the operation going.
Today, Tesla is the most valuable automaker on Earth, and none of it would’ve been possible without the Roadster.
