Tesla Model S comes to town
Tesla hopes its Model S will change the world, but will Hongkongers buy into the electric dream?
Mitt Romney called Tesla Motors a "loser company" during last year's US presidential campaign, in a swipe at Barack Obama's tax breaks for green energy initiatives. What he didn't mention was that more than 3,500 American jobs the carmaker has created.
While Romney lost the presidential race, Tesla may be onto a winner with its premium Model S electric sedan, which won several car of the year accolades in 2012. Hurdles remain, however, in encouraging motorists to take the leap of faith into electric vehicles.
Silicon Valley-based Tesla was started by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk in 2003, with ambitions to produce an electric sports car. Built around the dinky chassis of a Lotus, Tesla's Roadster was the first electric car to run more than 320 kilometres on a full charge.
The Model S beats that by a wide margin; it travels about 500 kilometres on a fully charged 85kWh battery pack.
Chief designer Franz von Holzhausen, who previously worked for Mazda, says Tesla "set out to change the world" with the Model S.
"We sat down and started talking about what the Model S would be. He [Musk] gave me a laundry list of things that didn't equal a sedan by any stretch of the imagination: seven passengers, best aero-efficiency, lowest centre of gravity, the best zero to 60 time of any sedan in the market, best functionality - and, of course, the best-looking car in the world."
