Tesla Plans Electric Four Door saloon
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Tesla, the North American electric car maker, has announced plans to manufacture an electrically powered four door saloon. Called Model S, the mid-size, Ford Mondeo-scale car is scheduled to go into production in 2010, at a US price of $60,000, or £30,000. That price is considerably less than the $109,000 the company charges for the Tesla Roadster, which recently went on sale here in left-hand drive from for £79,000. Unlike the UK-built Roadster the Model S, also known as the White Star, will be assembled in San Francisco, California. The Roadster is built on the Lotus production line at Hethel, Norfolk.
Tesla is also working on a $30,000 (£15,000) electric car with a 220-mile range that it plans to sell in four years time, which it is thought to be developing with Mercedes, the two companies having what the US company describes as a 'small' partnership according to US trade paper Automotive News. Speaking at the announcement of its plans Tesla CEO Ze'ev Drori said, 'We are not a mere niche player with a car to the rich and famous. We are building high-volume zero emission vehicle manufacturing in California for a midsize family sedan in California and we are not going to stop there.' At this stage it is not clear whether both these new models will be exported to Europe and the UK.
