2012 Tesla S pictures revealed

By Matt Brogan | August 21st, 2009

Tesla has today revealed pics of its sleek 2012 ‘S’ sedan showing the four-door in motion.

The Tesla S is set to rival other EVs such as the Fisker Karma as well as conventionally powered luxury rivals including the BMW 5 Series and Mercedes-Benz E-Class.

Designed by Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla says the front end styling of the ‘S’ will be the future face of the electric automaker. Short front and rear overhangs not only give the sedan a clean, sporting look, but also allows for the maximum interior space.

The Tesla S rides on 21-inch alloys while inside features include a highly customisable, 17-inch touch screen for HVAC, audio and navigation controls as well as 3G wireless internet; digital and satellite radio and a panaoramic sunroof.

The ‘S’ has seating for five adults, plus optional rear-facing seats for two small children in the cargo area.

In keeping with the brand’s green theme, Tesla uses chrome-free vegetable tanned Italian leather on interior, and 100 per cent recycled PET carpeting.

The electric sedan can travel up to 480 kilometres on a single charge with a “QuickCharge” taking only 45 minutes to complete. If that’s not quick enough, the battery can be changed for a fully-charge unit in under five minutes.

To further increase efficiency, the door handles retract at speed making a cleaner aerodynamic shape.

With a tare weight of 1490kg and a single speed variable transmission the ‘S’ makes the 0-100km/h run in 5.6 seconds and can run to 400m in 14 seconds flat. Top speed is estimated at 193km/h.

Braking comes courtesy of six-pot Brembos up front, and fours on the rear. An all-wheel drive model is also planned in the near future.

The ‘S’ will be Tesla’s second model joining the Roadster sports and is due for production late 2011 with a retail price of US$49,900 (after the US$7500 electric vehicle tax credit).

http://skyline The Salesman

First of all that looks awesome. Retracting door handles? Just when I thought I had heard it all. Any idea on price?
Didnt Toyota just come up with a way to tripple the klms you can travel on a single charge? Time to play catch up Tesla?
lazybones

“Didnt Toyota just come up with a way to tripple the klms you can travel on a single charge?”

Yeah apparently its a new battery tech that could increase capacity 10 fold while maintaining the same size battery. But its a decade off being put in production…. Apparently

Whats funny is big T is avoiding an all EV car in favour of either Hybrid or Hydrogen. But yet behind the scenes they are clearly working hard on EV Technology.
Shak

I dont care how long it takes to charge or how far you go from one charge, this thing is so cool. it looks awesome. and those retracting door handles are what Lambo and Fazza should have been doing all this time. AWESOME.
lazybones

A 7 seater doing “0-100km/h run in 5.6 seconds ” !!

so the only thing that interrupts the almost noise free accelleration is the distinct thump of the 2 rear facing kids face planting the rear door!
DGS

No this is how you get people to consider electric cars!!!

with nissan and GM offering shopping trolly EVs with “turd on a plate” appeal and ho hum range. How is it a small specialist manufaturer car get it so right?

Go Tesla!
smokin’R32

I’m curious to see these rear facing seats, so far I haven’t seen any official images. I just cant see it being practical or safe. Be interested to see if they can pull the whole thing off
Steve

Love this car and the company. They seem to be small and mobile enough to make the changes needed quickly to bring this kind of tech into the market soon. Fingers crossed they can do a RHD version and bring it to the whole world, not just the LHD market.
Shak

Arent there more RHD markets in the world.(viable markets). If so why dont manufacturers capitalise on this. C’mon Tesla bring this here to compete with the 5 seat germans. Looks on par, better economy and seats seven. whats not to love.
Flying High

Great looking car. somehow I get the impression that having seats for the kids in the ‘cargo area’ (boot?) of this sedan-cum-coupe thing might be this cars biggest selling point for many a harangued parent
SHak

But if the seats are facing backwards wont that make people fly towards the rear, even with seatbelts it will be weird.
Matt

480 KMs!!!! Isn’t that like 4x the current best?
http://Caradvice.com.au Baddass

Very pretty, but how do short overhangs help free-up interior space? And Shak I don’t think Fazza should do retracting doorhandles. They probably would only retract half the time!
crouchy

So whats wrong with the rear end then???
crouchy

^^ Oh i just googled it and it turns out they stole the rear from Jag…
DGS

They pinched Jaguars bum? how cheeky.
http://www.adelaideroofingexpert.com.au/ roofing repairs

Rear looks Like Jag Or Ashton,
Lets See How It exactly Competes With Other
http://Caradvice.com.au Baddass

Roofing, it is spelt Aston. Or did you mean it looks like Mr. Kutcher?
http://aussieexotics.com/ Ash Simmonds

Why would Ferrari or Lamborghini need “retracting door handles” – have you seen the “handles” on most of their range?
Jimmy

Is that price correct? Seems like an absolute bargain. A few design cues from Maserati and Jag there too…
Rick

Hmmm….. I keep coming back to the maxim that if it sounds to good to be true, than it probably is!

Car looks good, but having that sort of range, performance and carrying capacity for under USD50K from an electric car sounds awesome – they are quoting figures unseen anywhere else.

I’ll put this one down to believing it when I see it.
Frank

I emailed Tesla around 6 month ago about their cars. I got an email back from them on the 13/8/2009 from their Model S Product Specialist for Europe. He sent me the paper work to reserve a UK Model S. The UK model will be right hand driver. One can be reserved for £4,000. The UK price is not known and therefore the Australian price is unknown. It will be Australian compliant. I indicated I would prefer to order one when they confirm the Australian delivered price and an Australian order form that commits to it being Australian compliant.
Ray Brauer

I love the Tesla ‘S’ for the delightful elegance with which it provides an emminently viable alternative to any of the fossil fuels, and, unlike ‘hybrid’ and ‘dual-fuel’ vehicles it’s amenity is not hampered by the dead weight – see the Lexus GS450h’s GVM – of a whole other fuel and/or propulsion system which takes up valuable space – see the Hybrid Camry’s restricted boot space – and is lugged around for the entire life of the vehicle like a parasite – just like a snail carrying it’s home about – and for what? …………………just in case!
Bring it on Mister Tesla and please don’t forget your fans down under.
PS. Tesla (symbol T) is the SI derived unit of magnetic field.(wikipedia)