Photo: Catalin Garmacea
Ladies and gentlemen from the Land Down Under, if you have a passion for eco-friendly motoring and are interested in the Model S electric sedan, we’ve got some good news! Tesla Motors announced the Model S will go on sale in Australia Tuesday, December 9th.
Considering that Stateside deliveries started in June 2012, Australia will receive the Model S a whopping two and a half years after. About the much-awaited launch event, Elon Musk’s company will hold it in state capital city Sydney, at a soon-to-be-finished Tesla Store on 10 Herbert Street in St Leonards.
A second Tesla Store in Melbourne (650 Church Street) will follow. There’s no word on what the Supercharger Network will look like at first in the country, but some fast-charging stations will be juiced up by solar panels. Yup, that’s 100 percent renewable energy right there. To boot, first Model S units sold in Australia will go to people that own solar-powered homes because, you know, just Tesla things.
The aforementioned sticker applies to the rear-wheel drive 60 kWh model. Level up to the 85 and you’re looking at AUD 112,844, while the P85D 85 kWh Performance is AUD 151,975. Despite the ginormous price tag, the P85D is ballistic with its twin-motor and all-wheel drive layout: 515 kW of electric grunt, 3.4 seconds to 100 km/h and a range of 460 kilometers if you drive it like a nun on Sunday morning.
A second Tesla Store in Melbourne (650 Church Street) will follow. There’s no word on what the Supercharger Network will look like at first in the country, but some fast-charging stations will be juiced up by solar panels. Yup, that’s 100 percent renewable energy right there. To boot, first Model S units sold in Australia will go to people that own solar-powered homes because, you know, just Tesla things.
So what about the car itself?
Well, don’t expect too many differences between the Aussie Model S and the UK-spec variant. Coming in right-hand drive guise only, the 2015 Tesla Model S will hold a AUD 97,245 starting price, including the luxury car tax (AUD 4,808) and registration (AUD 1,037). Converted to US dollars, that translates to $81k, which is $10,000 more than the US-spec Model S excluding the $7,500 federal incentives for EVs.The aforementioned sticker applies to the rear-wheel drive 60 kWh model. Level up to the 85 and you’re looking at AUD 112,844, while the P85D 85 kWh Performance is AUD 151,975. Despite the ginormous price tag, the P85D is ballistic with its twin-motor and all-wheel drive layout: 515 kW of electric grunt, 3.4 seconds to 100 km/h and a range of 460 kilometers if you drive it like a nun on Sunday morning.
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