NEW YORK - Electric car maker Tesla Motors saw its stock drop 15 percent Monday, Dec. 27, after an IPO "lock-up" period expired, the Los Angeles Times reported. 

Shares of the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company fell $4.54 to $25.55 on the first trading day after Christmas. On this day a restriction on certain stock sales, imposed after Tesla's June IPO, was lifted. 

Back in June, Tesla went public at $17 a share. By late November, the stock had more than doubled at $35.47. But then shares began to slide. 

Tesla isn't expected to turn a profit until 2012.

Tesla is using the former NUMMI factory in Fremont, Calif., to build its Model S and future electric vehicles. Tesla is also collaborating with Toyota to develop an electric version of the RAV4.