Sep 8 2009
Tesla Motors will open a regional sales and service center in Munich on Sept. 10, and the following week senior executives will formally unveil the production version of the Roadster Sport.
The Munich store (Blumenstr. 17) will be the first Tesla store in continental Europe. Tesla opened its flagship London store in June and will open a store in Monaco later this year. World’s leading electric vehicle company is ramping up deliveries throughout Europe and has already delivered cars to customers in the United Kingdom, Scandinavia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France.
“The Roadster is quickly becoming the vehicle of choice for discriminating Europeans,” said Tesla CEO Elon Musk. “Many of our customers are die-hard European sports car aficionados who switch to Roadsters over concern about climate change and the dangers of foreign oil addiction. And some customers buy the Roadster simply because it will beat the Porsche 911 or Audi R8 off the line every time.”
Tesla executives will debut the production version of the Roadster Sport on Sept. 15 at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. The event also marks the European debut of the Model S, an all-electric, seven-passenger sedan that Tesla plans to begin producing in late 2011.
The Frankfurt show is the first to feature Tesla’s full 2010 model-year lineup -- the Roadster Sport and the second-generation Roadster, or Roadster 2. Additionally, Tesla executives will keynote the SupplierBusiness Conference Sept. 17 in Frankfurt.
The Roadster 2, which Tesla is building and shipping to customers now, features an array of enhancements. Those include a more powerful heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system, more comfortable seats and a far more luxurious dashboard and cabin. The interior is quieter than its predecessor, and the ride is forgiving over harsh surfaces -- without sacrificing handling performance.
The Roadster Sport, which Tesla is also building and shipping to customers now, is an even higher performance car that does 0 to 100 kmh in 3.7 seconds, compared to 3.9 seconds for the standard Roadster. The Sport includes a more powerful motor, custom-tuned adjustable suspension and forged wheels. A customer’s Roadster Sport sprinted the quarter-mile in 12.643 seconds in late July, setting a new record in the U.S. National Electric Drag Racing Association.
The acclaimed Roadster – which has better acceleration than a Porsche 911 or Audi R8 and is twice as energy efficient as a Toyota Prius – is the only highway-capable electric vehicle for sale in Europe or North America. It’s the first EV to travel more than 300 km per charge and the first EU- and US-certified Lithium-Ion battery electric vehicle.
The Roadster has an estimated average range of about 400 km per charge, and it produces zero tailpipe emissions. In April, the Roadster set another significant EV record when it traveled the entire 390-km course of the Rallye Monte Carlo d'Energies Alternatives on a single charge – from Valance, France to Monaco, through the Alps. The Roadster was the only car to finish the course – and at the end it still had 61 km left on the charge.
The Roadster qualifies for numerous tax benefits in Europe, including sales, luxury and use tax waivers in Scandinavia and exceptional incentives in Holland, making the car an unquestionable bargain compared to internal combustion engine vehicles. The relatively high cost of petrol in Europe dramatically lowers Tesla’s total cost of ownership relative to gas-guzzlers. Eventually, Tesla expects sales to be roughly split between North America and Europe.