Tesla has opened its new store in London's Westfield Centre and announced that the Model S will cost £49,900 in the UK.
The whole retail experience, akin to an Apple store, initially caused something of a ruckus in America. You can read more about that here.
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“Tesla is taking the UK market very seriously, and there are more stores and service centres to come. We’re also going to establish a Supercharger network so Model S customers will be able to drive long distances anywhere in the UK using our network for free, forever. The first Supercharger will be energised next quarter and we’ll aspire to have the entire country covered by end of next year. Most importantly, we are hard at work with Right Hand Drive Model S, and we aim to deliver the first one by the end of March 2014.”
A Supercharger in Tesla's electrified view of the world is not a belt driven device to force more air into a combustion chamber but a place where you can plug in your electric Model S and charge it up for free.
The Model S is a premium sector electric car to compete with the Jaguar XF, BMW 5-Series, Audi A6 and Mercedes E-Class. It will cost as much as a decent spec version of any of these.
It has a range of 310 miles (in ideal conditions) and is the best rated car in any crash test ever in America. A few have set on fire - which bewilders fire crews because no matter how much water they throw at it the fire will continue for a few hours.
The Model S is the best selling car in Norway. Worldwide it is exceeding expectations and Tesla has a similar problem to Land Rover in that it cannot make enough cars to supply demand. Land Rover's problem is a lack of 5 litre engines whilst Teslas problem is a lack of batteries. Both are counteracting these supply issues by building their own rather than buying them in from suppliers.
Article by Matt Hubbard