Telsa sedan gets green light for Australia

TESLA has confirmed its Model S electric luxury sedan for Australia, but it will not arrive here until early 2013.

The American Silicon Valley electric car producer plans to crank up production of the make-or-break sedan late this year for its domestic market, with customers to receive the vehicles in the first half of next year.

Tesla’s Australian operation has been told that Australian customers can expect Model S cars to be delivered in the first half of 2013.

Tesla currently sells a single model, the Roadster, which is based on a donor chassis from the Lotus Elise fitted out with its own electric motor and battery back.

The company says it will limit the production of the Roadster, which has just gone on sale in Australia, to between 2000 and 2200 units.

The Model S will be Tesla’s first attempt at volume production, and the firm says it plans to build 5000 next year before building up to 20,000 in 2013.

While the Roadster is a high performance sportscar aimed at early adopters and not necessarily motoring enthusiasts, the Model S will reach out to existing luxury vehicle customers.

While it has a sleek four-door coupe design, Tesla insists the Model S is capable of carrying seven people, although it does point out the third row of seats are only for children.

Tesla Australia national marketing manager Jay McCormack said the Model S would be a different vehicle to the hardcore Roadster.

“There will be a focus on luxury and grand touring,” he said.

The new Tesla will take on established luxury players, not just in terms of what it offers but also price.

In the US, the Model S starts off at the equivalent of $A50,000, but buyers also benefit from a $7500 federal tax credit subsidy. The price is unlikely to be anywhere near that for Australian customers, given the traditional higher prices of our vehicles compared with those in the US with the difference usually put down to smaller volumes, different specifications and more taxes including those levelled at luxury vehicles.

While Australian pricing is a long way from being locked in, Mr McCormack has offered a hint: “The BMW 5 Series and E-class Mercedes type of car are within that space, around $120,000 and $130,000 at this moment.”

A price in that region would mean a dramatic reduction over the existing two-seater Roadster that costs $206,188 in standard form and $241,938 for the more potent S version in Australia.

Tesla plans to offer one performance specification for the Model S, which will has sufficient power to blast from zero to 100km/h in just 5.6 seconds. It will, however, offer three battery options to step up the range, from the base car’s 257km to 370km and range topping 483km.

Selecting the mid-range version would add around $10,000 to the price in the US, while specifying the longest range version would bring a premium of more than $20,000 over the standard vehicle.

Tesla chairman Elon Musk has discussed other models that could be spun off the Model S platform, including a crossover wagon, a coupe and a larger SUV.

The Model S aluminium structure is reportedly easy to shorten or lengthen, and the batteries sit in the floor of the vehicle. Tesla says this design means it can easily adapt the platform for other vehicles. Tesla will produce the Model S at recently acquired New United Motor Manufacturing plant in Freemont, California, which was opened in 1984 as a joint venture between General Motors and Toyota.

GM announced it would pull out of the joint venture in 2009 and Toyota wound up production at the plant in 2010 before Tesla bought the facility.