For sale: electric sports cars with £100,000 charge
Opening a Knightsbridge showroom selling £100,000 sports cars in the middle of a recession might seem unwise.
But US firm Tesla hopes its 125mph electric car will attract London's wealthy. The company, which opens a showroom tonight in Cheval Place near Harrods, will sell only one product - the Tesla Roadster.
Based on the Lotus Elise sports car, it has an acceleration of 0-60 in 3.9 seconds. It can travel 220 miles on one charge and takes three hours to recharge.
The Roadster, which has a carbon fibre body, is powered by an 185kw electric motor and a stack of batteries in its boot. It has a string of celebrity owners including George Clooney, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
However, tonight's opening will be the first time the car will go on sale outside the US, despite being assembled by Lotus at its Norfolk plant.
"London was the obvious choice for us, as we believe the city is perfect for electric vehicles, but also for the kind of people who would buy a Tesla Roadster," said Michael Van Der Sande from Tesla. "We find that purchasers, in the US at least, are either technologically minded, or very keen to make a statement about their eco-credentials. This is a luxury car, and the price reflects that. Knightsbridge was the obvious place for the showroom."
The silent car will be available in three versions, from a budget base model at £87,000 to the sports version at £100,000, which features faster acceleration and sports suspension.
Tesla says it already has dozens of orders, and plans to deliver its first cars to London customers within weeks. It hopes to sell between 50-100 cars in the capital in its first 12 months.
The company is also working on a larger, four-door family version, with $465million (£283million) funding from the US government. It hopes this version, called the Tesla Model S, will appeal to families because it has four seats and a 300-mile range.
Tesla says it will cost half the price of the Roadster, and is expected to go on sale in 2011. It will also be quicker to charge, taking 45 minutes.
