At a press conference in Stuttgart, Germany Elon Musk and Dr. Thomas Weber, Member of the Board of Daimler AG announced the strategic alliance to accelerate the commercialization of electric drives globally.

"Daimler has set the benchmark for engineering excellence and vehicle quality for more than a century. It is an honor and a powerful endorsement of our technology that Daimler would choose to invest in and partner with Tesla," said Tesla Chairman, CEO and Product Architect Elon Musk. "Daimler is also on the leading edge in the field of sustainable mobility. Among others the lithium-ion pouch-cell battery developed by Daimler and especially designed for automotive applications is of interest to us. We are looking forward to a strategic cooperation in a number of areas including leveraging Daimler's engineering, production and supply chain expertise. This will accelerate bringing our Tesla Model S to production and ensure that it is a superlative vehicle on all levels."

Prof. Herbert Kohler, Vice President E-Drive and Future Mobility at Daimler will take up a seat on the board at Tesla.

Video of the announcement can be found at the Daimler site here: http://www.daimler.com/press/90519/e