Tesla’s Model S has had it’s on the road (OTR) price revealed as being just a little shy of £50,000 – as promised by Elon Musk at the recent launch of their new flagship UK store opening in the Westfield Centre at Shepherds Bush.
The official on-the-road (OTR) price for Model S in the UK will start from £49,900, though this figure is for the base model 60kWh Model S and after the £5000 UK Plug-in car grant. However, the Tesla model S is still undergoing inclusion into the Government incentive but should be included soon.
Tesla are slating the Model S as the first premium saloon to have been built from the ground up as an electric car though this does ignore electric car history somewhat. However, it must be said that up until now the Model S has performed exceptionally well in all tests that have been thrown at it. Out performing many a much more expensive car, yet offering seven seats and an eerily silent ride, the Model S has been compared to cars such as Porsche’s much more costly Panamera and Aston Martin’s also much more costly Rapide S. What is perhaps more susprising is that during those tests, the Tesla was found to be better than both.
Perhaps a fairer comparison would be between the Model S and BMW’s mighty M5, the performance saloon benchmark for many generations, but the Model S leaves the BMW behind in most driving situations, though the Bavarian beast offers the wroughty soundtrack and more cabin toys.
The five-door Tesla saloon competes with the top cars in its class in spaciousness, handling and style, yet produces zero tailpipe emissions. As there is no space consuming petrol/diesel engine or transmission tunnel for a gearbox, Tesla’s engineers have been able to create a very spacious car, even offering a very generous storage space in the front of the car. Though the interior is, by capacity, one of the most spacious in it’s class, tall rear occupants may find the coupe’s lines offer little by way of headroom.
Tesla Model S comes with two battery options – 60 kWh and 85 kWh. The battery’s floor-mounted position gives the car a very low centre of gravity, meaning manoeuvrability is very sharp and the car doesn’t lurch or lumber at all. Furthermore, the car is designed with near perfect 50:50 weight distribution ensuring excellent handling around corners.
There are numerous financial benefits applied to Model S, being an electric vehicle, that affect the total cost of ownership, making Model S even more compelling in the UK. These include incentives such as zero showroom tax, zero Vehicle Exercise Duty (road tax) and exemption from London’s Congestion Charge (subject to registration with TFL and a £10 annual fee).
UK residents who purchase Model S as a company car can also benefit from a 0% Benefit-In-Kind (BIK) rate until April 2015, after which the BIK is set to a rate of 5%. This compares to the standard BIK rates of 24-28% for a typical premium ICE saloon.
Read a previous article about the Tesla London Store opening.
Source; Tesla Motors
