With a background in IT and start-ups, Georg Ell isn’t your typical car company boss. But he seems a perfect fit in his role as UK and Ireland country manager for Tesla Motors.
How is the local business structured? Is there a Tesla Motors Europe?
Go deeper with GlobalData
I’m country director for the UK and Ireland and I work for Jerome Guillen, who is worldwide head of Sales and Service. He works for Elon [Musk].
Jerome Guillen is a former Daimler engineer isn’t he? What’s your own background?
That’s right. My background is in software and technology. So I’ve got a start-up background. Automotive is new for me. Before that I was at Microsoft. Before I was hired, a statement was made about hiring from all sorts of fields. Some folks from automotive but also others from retail, tech, sustainable energy. But beyond that, if we find people with the right passion for the company, we’ll look at them. We’re ultimately a tech company that builds cars.
We’ve seen Tesla open two sales sites in west London, as well as the first Supercharger in a planned network. What’s next?
How well do you really know your competitors?
Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.
Thank you!
Your download email will arrive shortly
Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample
We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form
By GlobalDataOur first store was opened at Westfield White City and we’re currently seeing on average of more than 10,000 people a week go through it, so it’s been great for building our brand. Now we have our new store and service facility at West Drayton which is close to a number of motorways [M4, M40, M25]. As well as delivering new cars, customers can park there and we’ll shuttle them and their bags to Heathrow which is just a mile or so away, and pick them up once they return. Or we’ll perform a service if it’s due whilst the car is there. It’s something we’ve done in the US and it’s been very positively received there.
We’re very happy to be delivering right-hand drive cars now. And we’re running test drives at lots of locations up and down the country and there’s been huge interest in that. We’re actually booked out due to the publicity the Model S has been generating – there hasn’t even been any advertising.
Where will your next sales locations be?
Right now, we’re in multiple negotiations to open in Crawley, Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Newcastle and Edinburgh.
What about more rapid-charge locations? [for location maps, click here]
Supercharging is a major priority for us. We made a promise at our launch that we would energise the southern part of the UK by about October, that we would have locations enabling travel to the Midlands and the North by the end of this year. We’re on target with that. We will also have a location for owners who want to use the channel tunnel and charge up before they head over to the continent. From there you can use superchargers in France, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Germany or Norway and other locations. So by Christmas, an owner could be driving their Model S to the alps.
You don’t use a franchised dealer system so can someone trade in a car or arrange finance at your stores?
Yes they can. We’re trialling a couple of things in those areas and they’re working well. With finance we’re also now offering PCPs deals and there’s been a lot of interest from customers.
We haven’t heard much lately about the UK R&D centre.
There isn’t a lot to say right now and we’re not talking about location just yet. When Elon announced it, he said we would do something in 2015. We’re in the planning phases and there is government involvement – that’s all I can say.
Do right-hand drive cars have their battery packs fitted at Tilburg?
Yes. As you know, the cars are manufactured at our Fremont factory in California. The cells are then taken out and shipped with the cars to our centre in The Netherlands, where they go back in. Then the cars are transported whole to West Drayton where we do final PDIs and valeting. Tilberg, which is near the port of Rotterdam, is where all cars for Europe are received before they then go off to the various countries.
What’s the initial demographic of your UK Model S buyers?
All sorts of people. Small business owners – dentists, architects – also celebrities, people who are very interested in environmental matters. Pricing starts at £50,000 and with options, you can spend up to £100,000 so we’re attracting a very wide audience.
Are you targeting fleet managers?
This car is ideal for company car drivers. Obviously there’s no need for a fuel card, no road tax, no London congestion charge and other benefits that people don’t initially think about, such as brake pad wear – because of the regenerative braking, you only have to change the pads about half as often as you would for an equivalent petrol or diesel car.
As the supercharger network expands, will owners eventually have to pay to recharge?
No, as Elon has said, using a supercharger will be free forever for owners of the Model S, and also for the Model X, which is our SUV that’s coming in 2015. Our supercharger network isn’t designed just to get things off the ground; it’s for the long term.
What are the sales expectations for this year and next?
We’re not disclosing that at this time but I will tell you that our factory is now closing for a short time so that we can expand the capacity ahead of adding the Model X. We’re looking to be building 1,000 cars per week by the end of this year. We then add X, and in 2017, Model 3. So that supercharger network is going to be expanding all the time – here and in all our other markets.
What’s your view on the public recharging network in Britain?
The government is spending tens of millions of pounds on this but we’re not taking any of that money as we’re not involved in that network. We’re building our own network, and the government is delighted that a private company is investing in UK PLC.
How long is the warranty on the Model S’ battery pack?
We have two battery choices: 60kW or 85kW. The 60kW warranty is eight years with 125,000 miles and the 85kW has the same eight years but unlimited mileage. As the 85kW battery is our most popular option, the majority of customers are getting an unlimited mileage warranty. The warranty on the car is four years.
That could really affect the residual values of older cars.
In the US, we offer owners 50% of the value of their Model S after three years. Here, we’re working with the agencies that rate residual values and they’re very interested in our sales model and our service model. What they’re not used to seeing are updates to a car over the period of ownership. So the owner gets new features and improved features. You can get these updates for free, via wifi and if you want, you can set them to install while you’re asleep. A three, four, five year old car, with the exception of wear and tear, is going to be better than it was when you bought it.
We’re working through this issue of RVs with CAP and Glass’. Similarly with service, unlike a combustion engine car, the only parts that need replacing are windscreen wipers and tyres. So we’ve a great degree of confidence in residual values.
Tesla has been open about looking at the telemetry data from owners’ cars. What do you use that for?
If you’re asking if we track the locations of individual cars, the answer is we don’t store any of that [data]. We might, with the owner’s permission, track location for service and remote diagnostics, but we never store the data. So if the police come knocking and want the locations and speeds of a car, we haven’t got that stored.
How can a Tesla owner know how green the power from a UK-based supercharger is?
We do a lot of solar in the US, but we haven’t yet got that in place in Britain and of course there’s the issue of planning – not all sites are allowed to or have room for solar panels – and the lower levels of sunlight. But there are opportunities for us to buy green electricity, and for our owners to do so too for recharging at home or at their office.
Will we see Model X in the UK next year?
It’s too early to say. For the US, yes, but in Britain we’re launching Model S so concentrating on that car at the moment. But we are taking £5,000 deposits for Model X.
