American car company Tesla, had a hard birth getting into the auto making business. Since all it's plans for fully-electric luxury aimed automobiles, Tesla may find it challenging to find customers. The Tesla Roadster for example is a classic point. Based on a Lotus Elise, but replacing the petrol engine with a eclectic-battery engine that has a range up-to 244 miles, and then selling it three-times more expensive than an Elise (overall, costing over $100,000) isn't convincing to bring customers. However, Tesla's technology of electric power efficiency meeting speed did bring the media and car enthusiasts. So hopefully, this second production car of Tesla will bring the people with money into it, to liven things up.It's the long-awaited Model S luxury sedan. First things first, it's fully built by Tesla. So all the design, interior, drivetrain, and wheelbase is Tesla-made.
Let's talk first about the design. The design from ground-up is suppose to be prestige emerging with supreme practicality. Tesla did that very well. Model S really shows some Jaguar XF styling cues at the back, and some Fisker Karma lines as well. While it may look like an elegant 4-door coupe-sedan, it's actually one of the most practical sedans ever. It's the first sedan ever to feature 7-seats (5 adult seats, and 2 child seats under the rear hatch). Even so, the Model S can easily carry a mountain bike or a 50-inch plasma TV in the hatch when folding the seats. There's also more storing capacity under the hood, too.
Although the interior is full of classical luxury materails, it's also full of new gizmo. The center dash is dominated by an enormous 17-inch touch screen which features full-time 3G connectivity with Internet, HD and satellite radio and a lot more about the car's on board system. All recorded on a hard-disk that can also store music and movies.
We've kept the best for last, the drive-train. What's most important on a Tesla is the full eclectic drive-train that claim could replace petrol, diesel, and even hybrid systems without any compromise. Power from the electric motor which contains 8000 battery cells is mated to a 1-speed gearbox channeled to an all-wheel drive system. Range is up-to 300 miles depending on driving attitude, and would fully recharge within 4 hours on a 220V outlet. QuickCharge technology would let it charge in around 45 minutes on 440V outlet. Most impressive though, is performance 0-60 mph number that would leave a high-end V6 or even some V8s in the dust. 0-60 mph in 5.5 seconds, top speed is limited to 120 mph to stop the batteries from burning. So Model S would cruise as any luxury sedan would, just as easily, smoothly and quietly. Handling wise, Tesla hasn't finished it yet, but they said it should run a BMW 5-series for its money for that.
Tesla's ambitious plans for Model S is to mass-produce it all over the world, with around 20,000 units built annually. The Californian automaker said the factory is ready for that, specially that the price tag is approximately $57,400, just the money for a mid-size luxury sedan.
Let's talk first about the design. The design from ground-up is suppose to be prestige emerging with supreme practicality. Tesla did that very well. Model S really shows some Jaguar XF styling cues at the back, and some Fisker Karma lines as well. While it may look like an elegant 4-door coupe-sedan, it's actually one of the most practical sedans ever. It's the first sedan ever to feature 7-seats (5 adult seats, and 2 child seats under the rear hatch). Even so, the Model S can easily carry a mountain bike or a 50-inch plasma TV in the hatch when folding the seats. There's also more storing capacity under the hood, too.Although the interior is full of classical luxury materails, it's also full of new gizmo. The center dash is dominated by an enormous 17-inch touch screen which features full-time 3G connectivity with Internet, HD and satellite radio and a lot more about the car's on board system. All recorded on a hard-disk that can also store music and movies.We've kept the best for last, the drive-train. What's most important on a Tesla is the full eclectic drive-train that claim could replace petrol, diesel, and even hybrid systems without any compromise. Power from the electric motor which contains 8000 battery cells is mated to a 1-speed gearbox channeled to an all-wheel drive system. Range is up-to 300 miles depending on driving attitude, and would fully recharge within 4 hours on a 220V outlet. QuickCharge technology would let it charge in around 45 minutes on 440V outlet. Most impressive though, is performance 0-60 mph number that would leave a high-end V6 or even some V8s in the dust. 0-60 mph in 5.5 seconds, top speed is limited to 120 mph to stop the batteries from burning. So Model S would cruise as any luxury sedan would, just as easily, smoothly and quietly. Handling wise, Tesla hasn't finished it yet, but they said it should run a BMW 5-series for its money for that.Tesla's ambitious plans for Model S is to mass-produce it all over the world, with around 20,000 units built annually. The Californian automaker said the factory is ready for that, specially that the price tag is approximately $57,400, just the money for a mid-size luxury sedan.Sadly though, Tesla won't start to produce the Model S until second half of 2011. That's a long shot, and Tesla still has to run some tests on Model S. But for now, we know that it's just as good-looking as a Jaguar XF, more practical than a Mercedes CLS and BMW 5-series, in fact than all its rivals in the segment (it could very well be a 7-seater crossover for that), and faster and cheaper than the 408 hp Fisker Karma Hybrid Sedan. That surely is exciting for now.
Source : [Tesla Motors]
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment