The first green vehicle, costing about $500k, will be delivered in Sept
Christopher Tan, Straits Times 28 Jul 10;
TESLA, the maker of electric sportscars sought after by the wealthy and environmentally hip, has set up shop here.
Tesla Motors Singapore was registered last month, and operates out of Suntec City. It is now looking for a showroom, workshop and permanent office in the Leng Kee and Alexandra Road motorbelt.
Even before the California-based company's arrival, it already has a list of potential customers.
'People were contacting our head office directly to express interest,' said Tesla's regional sales manager Andrew Liew, who said it has about a dozen prospective buyers.
Ownership does not come cheap. The Lotus-built Tesla Roadster - the seven- year-old company's only model to date - is expected to cost just a bit less than a Porsche 911 Turbo. Or around $500,000, after the green vehicle rebate.
A second car, a full-sized sedan named Model S, is due here by 2012.
Mr Liew expects to deliver the first Roadster some time in September. That is, if parallel importers do not beat him to it. At least one parallel importer is offering the Tesla Roadster for sale.
Tesla was founded and is owned by a group of Silicon Valley technopreneurs, including PayPal co-founder Elon Musk. Investors include Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as well as automotive giants Toyota and Daimler.
The Tesla Roadster, which runs on lithium-ion batteries that can be charged via a household socket, is a 288-horsepower, two-seater capable of hitting 100kmh in just four seconds. It is good for 380km on a single charge - or seven times the average daily mileage clocked by a car driver here.
Since launching the Roadster in 2008, Tesla has delivered more than 1,200 of the first all-electric sports car in production.
Owners have included California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Hollywood stars George Clooney and Leonardo DiCaprio. At its Asian debut early this month, the first buyers were chief executives and entrepreneurs.
However, the company has yet to turn a profit. Last month, it raised US$226 million (S$308.6 million) via a public listing.
Its Singapore audience is expected to be equally exclusive. Mr Liew predicts annual sales of 20 to 30 cars, and maybe more with the Transport Technology Innovation and Development Scheme, which exempts electric vehicles from a certificate of entitlement and registration taxes, but is open only to corporations and institutes taking part in a test-bedding scheme.
The Energy Market Authority (EMA), which is heading the scheme, has received bids from 11 companies to build electric vehicle-charging infrastructure here. They include Hitachi Asia, Robert Bosch (South- east Asia), and Wearnes Automotive and Equipment. The bids range from $988,600 to $11.07 million for up to 63 charging stations, to be up by year-end.
Hong Kong, Japan and Australia are among those in the region with such an infrastructure.
EMA will announce the successful bidder by end-September.
