REPORT: Tesla planning to launch 2011 Roadster in more right-hand export markets
by Jeremy Korzeniewski on Jul 7th 2009 at 6:27PM 
Tesla Roadster - Click above for high-res image gallery
According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the long-anticipated right-hand-drive Roadster is coming in the first quarter of 2010 and will be available in both standard and Sport guise. The first market that's slated for electrification is, as you would expect, the United Kingdom, and Tesla's first European showroom has already opened up in Knightsbridge.
In addition to Great Britain, Musk has also indicated that Japan, Australia and India are seen as important right-hand-drive markets for the automaker to pursue in short order. The switch from LHD to RHD is surely made easier by the fact that the Lotus Elise, which shares a large portion of its chassis with the Roadster, was initially designed as a
Interestingly, there's already a lone Tesla Roadster in Australia, but that left-hand-drive car was imported by a man named Simon Hackett for his own personal use at a cost of about $200,000 Australian dollars – nearly twice what a Roadster costs in the States. Click past the break to watch a short video segment featuring that car.
Gallery: Jason Calacanis' Tesla Roadster
Photos copyright ©2009 Drew Phillips / Weblogs, Inc.
[Source: Go Auto]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jinsei888 6:56PM (7/07/2009)
on Mercedes' dime, I'm sure...
Reply
apro 11:05PM (7/07/2009)
As soon as I saw the picture of the car, I thought of a Porsche 914.
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Vik 12:21AM (7/08/2009)
200k AUD = 157k USD
If the base price is $109k (+some optional) and you multiply it for VAT and import taxes, you see that the Aussie probably paid just slightly more than he would pay for a regular import, with which you may skip the American VAT (if you have one) and the other duplicate taxes.
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Redline 9:59AM (7/08/2009)
And South Africa Elon? Remember the place?
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