UK: Tesla opens London showroom

29 June 2009 | Source: just-auto.com editorial team

Tesla Motors has opened its European flagship store in the heart of London's exclusive Knightsbridge district.

Tesla says the 5,000 square-foot showroom on Cheval Place is in walking distance from Harrods department store and 'convenient' to Heathrow Airport (proximity to Harrods we understand, but we're having trouble working out how it's especially convenient for Heathrow).

Tesla will also have regional sales and service centres in Monaco, Munich and Zurich, and four new stores in the United States.

It says all stores provide test-drive opportunities to prospective customers and information on the growing number of electric vehicles.

Tesla will begin delivering cars to European customers this summer of which the first 250 will be the Signature Edition Roadster model, priced from GBP94,000 on the road, with the option to upgrade to the more powerful Roadster Sport. A right hand drive entry-level variant of the two-seater sportscar will be on sale in the UK during the first quarter of 2010 to capitalise on the growing demand for the Roadster, for which 1,300 orders have already been taken across Europe.

"Thanks to an abundance of discriminating drivers and progressive public policy, Tesla is already well known in Europe," said Tesla CEO and Product Architect Elon Musk.

"We expect the London store to dramatically increase our brand identity throughout the continent, and with right hand drive models now due at the beginning of next year, the UK market will provide a solid foundation on which to build this."