On July 25, Tesla Motors opened up their fifth show room worldwide, located in Seattle.
Walking into one of Tesla Motors’ showrooms is kind of like walking into an Apple store. Because Tesla does not franchise, they employ all of their sales staff and own all of their store fronts. There are no sleazy high pressure salesmen and there is no haggling on the final price.
Since the commercialized production of the Tesla Roadster in 2008, Tesla Motors has been gradually opening their sales floors. The company’s four other showrooms are in Los Angeles, Menlo Park, New York and London.
Tesla Motors will continue to open up more showrooms this summer to spread the word about their flagship product the Tesla Roadster.
The Tesla Roadster has all the sex appeal of a foreign sports car. It’s as if Porsche and Lotus had a beautiful lovechild. This car doesn’t just look fast, it has the muscle to go along with its charm. It is capable of doing 0 to 60 miles per hour in just under 4 seconds.
It will cost $101,500 to drive one of these beauties off the lot after a $7,500 rebate from Uncle Sam. Because it’s fully electric, Washington State will also wave your sales tax, making the Tesla Roadster one of the cheapest luxury cars you can buy in the state.
Tesla Motors’ Senior Financial Analyst Sendil Palani was visiting from California for the Seattle opening.
“This is probably the easiest car to drive fast in the world,” said Palani, “with better cornering ability then most higher end sports cars.”
The Roadster has only a single speed transmission, so there is no shifting required. This also means there is no need to downshift or find a sweet spot to accelerate. The full power of the engine is available to you at any speed—just punch the throttle and go.
Tesla Motors has also equipped the Roaster with a technology called regenerative breaking. When you take your foot off the accelerator the vehicle will immediately start charging the battery from the forward momentum. A side effect of this is that you slow down.
“After you get used to it you can almost drive the car around the city with just one pedal” said Palani.
The body assembly for the Tesla Roadster takes place in Hethel, England, but with the announcement of the new Model S, Tesla Motors will be opening a factory in California.
Seating seven, the Model S sedan may be a bit more practical for the average family. Priced at $49,900 after government rebates, it’s a bit more practical on the pocket book too.
Driving a Tesla Motors sedan doesn’t mean you have to give up performance. The Model S is reported to do 0 to 60 miles per hour in under 6 seconds. Its production is scheduled for late 2011.
With other domestic automobile manufactures struggling to survive in the U.S. economy, Tesla Motors seems to have found a market that they can thrive in.
Expanding the limits of electric motor technology, it will be interesting to watch how Tesla Motors evolves. For more information on the Tesla Roadster or Model S visit http://www.teslamotors.com.