The last version of the Tesla Roadster, limited-production electric supercar will only be available in Europe, Asia and Australia.

Tesla will offer the 2012 Roadster in three new colors in those markets and will add features such as improved air conditioning, Xenon headlamps for better night visibility and improved performance in snow and ice, the company said in a statement Wednesday.

As well as these minor updates, Tesla will also offer customers in Europe and Japan the option of buying two new mobile charging connectors, designed to facilitate charging from Mennekes and J1772 public charging stations.

Tesla has sold more than 2,100 units in 31 countries since launching the $109,000-model in 2008.

The fleet of more than 1500 electric Roadsters spans more than 30 countries. The most northerly Roadsters are in Narvik, Norway, 140 miles (220 kilometers) north of the Arctic Circle.

They have accumulated more than 10 million miles (16 million kms) in real-world driving, saving 500,000 gallons (1.9 million liters) of gasoline and more than 5.3 million pounds (2.4 million kilograms) of CO2 emissions.

The milestone comes after a banner year for Tesla, which acquired an assembly plant in Fremont, Calif., and forged strategic partnerships wit Toyota and Panasonic. Tesla also became a public company in 2010.

Tesla also launched the next-generation Roadster 2.5, demonstrating Tesla’s continuous innovation and close feedback loop with its engineers and customers. Tesla opened its first Asian store in October; the showroom in Tokyo’s Aoyama district has the highest foot traffic of any Tesla store worldwide.

Tesla plans to produce 5,000 Model S electric cars in 2012 with U.S. deliveries beginning in mid-year. The Palo Alto-based electric car maker hopes to expand production capacity to 20,000 cars by 2013.

The Tesla Model S electric sedan will be made at a factory in Fremont, California, and is going to come in three versions based on range, Tesla said on its website today.

The first 1,000 Tesla Model S sedans will be the North American Model S Signature Series, equipped with a 300-mile range battery. It will be a limited-edition series and will cost $77,400 before the federal tax credit of $7,500 is applied.

The base model will have a driving range of 160 miles and will cost $57,400, while a 230-mile version will cost $67,400 before the federal tax credit of $7,500.

The Tesla Model S will be able to go from zero to 60 mph in about 5.5 seconds and will have a top speed of 125 miles per hour.

Tesla expects to produce only 5,000 of the cars in 2012 and hopes to expand production capacity to 20,000 cars by 2013. Test units are already on the road, having started in December.

At the end of their long life, Tesla will recycle its battery packs at Umicore’s UHT facility in Belgium. The Brussels-based materials technology company will use the expended pack material to produce an alloy that will be further refined into cobalt, nickel and other metals.

After that, Umicore will transform the cobalt into high grade lithium cobalt oxide, which can be resold to battery manufacturers. One of the few byproducts of their environmentally-friendly approach is a clean inertized slag containing calcium oxides and lithium. The slag goes into the production of special grades concretes.

Umicore’s battery recycling technology allows to save a minimum of 70 percent on CO2 emissions at the recovery and refining of these valuable metals. So it can substantially reduce the carbon footprint for the manufacturing of Lithium-Ion batteries.

The fleet of Roadsters spans more than 30 countries. They have accumulated more than 8.5 million miles (14 million kms) in real-world driving, saving 415,000 gallons (1.6 million liters) of gasoline and more than 22,000 barrels of oil.

The milestone comes after a banner year for Tesla, whic acquired an assembly plant in Fremont, Calif., and forged strategic partnerships wit Toyota and Panasonic. Tesla also became a public company in 2010.

Tesla also launched the next-generation Roadster 2.5, demonstrating Tesla’s continuous innovation and close feedback loop with its engineers and customers. Tesla opened its first Asian store in October; the showroom in Tokyo’s Aoyama district has the highest foot traffic of any Tesla store worldwide.

In 2010, Tesla delivered cars in more than 30 countries – from Singapore to Switzerland. The most northerly Roadsters are in Narvik, Norway, 140 miles (220 kilometers) north of the Arctic Circle.

The first Tesla Model S electric sedans will be built next year, crash tested and deliveries will start in 2012, the company says in a corporate filing.

The Model S electric sedan will have a range of 160, 230, or 300 miles on a single charge depending on which Model S Tesla battery pack option is chosen. It can go zero to 60 mph in 5.6 seconds and has a top speed of 120 mph.

In the meantime, Tesla says its busy building an electric version of the RAV4 crossover with Toyota and has been delivering prototypes since July. Tesla expects revenue of $60 million for its part in developing components for the Toyota RAV4 EV. Also keeping Tesla busy are work orders of 1,500 electric drivetrains for Smart ForTwo ED, and 500 for Mercedes-Benz for its A-Class electric cars.

Toyota took a small ownership stake in the company by investing $50 million immediately after Tesla’s initial public offering in June. Tesla also got a $30 million investment by battery supplier Panasonic on Nov. 2.

Meanwhile, Daimler invested $50 million (before selling off 40 percent of its stake) in Tesla.

The auto maker was the recipient of $465 million in Department of Energy loans for the development and production of the Model S.

Tesla on Monday raised the number of shares it plans to sell to 13.3 million from 11.1 million, a sign that investors are feeling upbeat about its prospects, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Tesla, which will trade on Nasdaq under the symbol “TSLA,” priced its shares late Monday at $17 each, above the target range of $14 to $16. That allowed Tesla to raise more than $226 million in the IPO.

While the automaker has burned through $230.5 million in cash and posted losses in every quarter since it was founded in July 2003, Tesla attracted Daimler AG and Toyota Motor Corp.

The Obama administration made a $465 million bet on the startup through the ATVM program, while California has approved an approximately $28.8 million tax break for the company through the state’s Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority.

Immediately after the IPO, Tesla plans to sell $50 million in shares to Toyota. The electric-car maker last month agreed to buy Toyota’s Fremont, Calif., manufacturing facility for $42 million to build the Tesla Model S. Tesla’s goal is to build 20,000 Model S sedans a year, which are expected to cost about $50,000 after federal tax credits.

Tesla, whose top-end electric Roadster model sells for more than $100,000, was founded in 2003 by Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk and Chief Technical Officer J.B. Straubel. It has yet to turn a profit.

The automaker has delivered about 1,100 Tesla Roadsters to customers in 22 countries.

Part of the deal will involve Toyota purchasing $50 million of Tesla’s common stock, the companies said in a joint statement.

Tesla will acquire the recently shuttered auto-assembly plant for production of its Model S sedan, the company said at a news conference at its Silicon Valley headquarters.

Tesla has also partnered with other big automaker – Daimler AG – which took a 10 percent share in the company last year. Daimler later sold part of its Tesla stake to Aabar Investments in Abu Dhabi.

The Model S production will occupy only a small corner of the vast NUMMI plant.

Tesla has been granted $465 million of loans from the U.S. government to build a new lower-cost model. The company had been negotiating with the city of Downey, near Los Angeles, to build a production facility for its new Model S.

The companies said they would also cooperate on engineering and parts, as well as a production system. A specialist team will be formed with representatives from both companies.

Toyota stopped making cars at the NUMMI plant in April after a 25- year joint venture with General Motors.

The new factory will start producing 3.1Ah battery cells, the highest energy density cells available in the market. The facility will produce more than 300 million cells per year.

“These cutting-edge Panasonic batteries will combine with Tesla’s battery pack technology to produce the highest-energy density EV battery packs in the world,” said Tesla Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel.

Tesla announced Wednesday that its Roadster model will be available to selected customers in Japan. Earlier this year,  Tesla announced a partnership with Panasonic to accelerate the development of next generation EV cells.

The company said it has delivered more than 1,000 two-seat Roadsters to customers in North America.

Tesla Motors is billing the road trip called Odyssey of Pioneers as the first around-the-world journey for a zero-emissions car.

The car will make stops in 150 towns and 15 major cities in Europe, Asia and North America along the way.

Tesla has teamed up with Tag Heuer to create a limited edition run of Roadsters created in conjunction with the automaker’s chief designer Franz on Holzhausen and the Swiss time piece purveyors.