UPDATE 1-Tesla Motors says may go public this year or next

(Adds details, quotes)

By Nichola Groom

INDIAN WELLS, Calif., Feb 6 (Reuters) - Tesla Motors, maker of the all-electric Roadster sports car, may go public at the end of 2008 or in 2009, the company's chairman said on Wednesday.

"I would say within end of this year or next year there is a good chance we would go public," Elon Musk, Tesla's chairman, said in an interview at the Clean-tech Investor Summit in Indian Wells, California.

Musk also said the company may partner with another company to develop a lower-cost electric car.

"There is a good chance that we may collaborate eventually with some other company," said Musk, a co-founder of PayPal. "We occasionally have short conversations with other automakers."

Musk said a potential partner for the San Carlos, California-based Tesla "could be a U.S. company but there's a good chance it's not."

He added that the company would like its third vehicle to be "as affordable as possible." Known inside the company as Blue Star, the company would target making about 100,000 such cars a year, Musk said, without giving any time frame.

Tesla also has an electric sedan in the works called White Star, which would sell for between $50,000 and $60,000. Musk said that car could be available in calendar year 2010, but that the name of it may change.

First and foremost, however, Tesla is focused on becoming a profitable company, Musk said, adding that he expected the company's Roadster business to be profitable in 2009.

"It should be achievable next year in the Roadster business line," Musk said when asked if Tesla had a target for turning a profit.

Some 900 customers have ordered the $100,000 Roadsters and the first will receive their British-made cars by the end of March or early April, Musk said.

(Editing by Mary Milliken and Gunna Dickson)