Another award plus new leasing program for Tesla

It's been a busy week or so for electric-vehicle maker Tesla. First the, Tesla Model S was voted World Green Car for 2013. The award was announced and presented at the World Car Awards press conference at the New York International Auto Show.

It's a particularly meaningful honour as a long list of entrants was initially reviewed and analyzed by an international panel of five green-vehicle experts to create a short list of finalists. The winner was selected from that list by a jury 66 prominent automotive journalists from 23 countries.

The Renault Zoe and Volvo V60 Plug-in Diesel Hybrid were runners-up in the voting.

That award follows several others the Model S has received, including Motor Trend Car of the Year and Automobile Magazine's Automobile of the Year.

Earlier, Tesla announced that actual sales of 4,750 Model S vehicles had exceeded the target provided in their mid-February shareholder letter.

Then the company announced that it is dropping the small battery option for the Model S, due to lack of demand. Only 4% of buyers have chosen the 40 kWh battery pack, which is not enough to justify its production. The 60 kWh battery will now become the base-level standard.

Finally, Tesla announced that it has established its own leasing package for the Model S, with what appear to be favourable terms and high residual values. In effect, it's a lease-to- buy – or not – arrangement, that combines a low down-payment andinterest rate, the ability to return the car after three years and receive a guaranteed residual, pegged to that of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, or to keep it and pay off the rest of the loan.

Not a bad week for the upstart automaker!