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Tesla Plans on Expanding in Right-Hand Markets

American all-electric sports car manufacturer Tesla Motors announced today, through the voice of its CEO, Elon Musk, the arrival of the right-hand-drive version of the Roadster, sometimes in the first quarter of 2010, as reported by autoblog.com.

The Tesla Roadster RHD will be available in both trim levels, Standard and Sport. The transition from left-hand-drive to the right-hand-drive layout will be trouble-free, as the Tesla Roadster shares a whole lot with the Lotus Elise chassis, which was designed as a RHD car from the beginning.

The first right-hand-drive market to receive the Tesla Roadster will be the United Kingdom, which already saw the inauguration of the premiere European Tesla showroom in Knightsbridge.

Tesla's CEO revealed the Roadster will also head for Japan, Australia and India, which are also right-hand-drive countries. This may be a result of Daimler's acquisition of a 10 percent share in Tesla's stock. According to the agreement, there was a mandatory request from the German car maker for Elon Musk to remain CEO and see through the release of the Model S.

After Daimler's investment and plan for the company, Tesla's business became more focused and goal oriented. The fact that Musk will remain, for the time being, the company's CEO, may give Tesla the necessary edge to enter until now non-targeted markets.

It remains to be seen if Elon Musk's bet on the RHD markets will prove an inspired one, but what we know for sure is that an Australian electric-car enthusiast spent about 200,000 Australian dollars to import a Tesla Roadster from the States. That is almost twice as much as the car's price tag in the US.
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