The Tesla Roadster, which the California carmaker says is "the world's only electric supercar" has been approved for Australian roads and will go on sale shortly with a starting price of $206,188. Tesla spokesperson Camille Ricketts says they have not yet appointed dealers.
"Tesla actually doesn't work with a dealership network. We have 15 Tesla-owned and operated stores around the world. We plan to eventually open one in Sydney," she says.
Tesla will be the distributor and primary contact for all Roadster sales with offices in Sydney and a sales representative. "We have delivered one Roadster to a customer in Australia already, and we are getting a lot of interest from other prospective customers," Ricketts says.
"We don't have a sales projection for Australia. However, we have sold a little over 1500 worldwide since the Roadster's launch in 2008." The hand-built, carbon-fibre Roadster is a zero-emission belter, powered by a liquid-cooled battery pack, and develops 215kW of power and 400Nm of torque the latter right from start. It has 0-100km/h time of less than four seconds.
It claims a range of 360km, and can be recharged from your home power outlet, which means it can also use any renewable energy form that is sourced for domestic electricity such as solar, hydro and wind energy.
The Roadster 2.5 the fourth vehicle from brand comes standard with all the usual goodies, plus some unusual extras such as power control hardware to boost driveability in hot climates, and an optional 18cm touch-screen display with satnav and reversing camera. And house-call servicing, with Tesla techies coming to your home or office for the annual service inspections and upgrades.
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