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Tesla Motors delivered a solid Nasdaq debut on Tuesday amid a tumbling global market, with the electric car maker’s stock opening at $19 a share, or 12 percent above the $17 per share offer price. That price represented a jump from the previously estimated range of $14-$16 per share. Tesla’s stock pulled back to $17.62 per share by late morning, but had zoomed upwards of $20 per share by around 2:30 pm EST.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average had shed more than 263 points or 2.6 percent this afternoon, dropping below 10,000 points for the first time in more than two weeks MarketWatch reports, while the Nasdaq Composite Index fell about 72 points or 3.25 percent. The S&P 500 lost more than 32 points or nearly 3 percent.

So far, investors seem willing to take a chance on a company that has generated only $147.6 million in revenue since its inception in 2003 through the first three months of this year, while accumulating a deficit of $290.2 million. According to a regulatory filing, Tesla saw a net loss of $29.5 million in the first quarter of 2010, up from $16 million in the same period a year earlier. The company expects to record operating and net losses every quarter until “significant deliveries of the Model S” begin in 2012, at the earliest.

Nonetheless, Tesla is hitting some of the benchmarks for what analysts told us last week would amount to a blockbuster IPO for the company, which could bode well for other green car ventures.

For more on cleantech financing check out GigaOM Pro (subscription required):

Cleantech Financing Trends 2010 & Beyond

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