REPLY FROM GEORGE BLANKENSHIP
Hi George,
Following the shareholder meeting, it seems that we are likely to see our
Right hand drive cars here in 2014. I contacted Kevin Yu, and was replied to
by Naomi Takeuchi, that it was likely to be "early" in 2014.
My question to you as head of ownership experience, is : if that is the
case, it is surprising that there is no discernable activity here in this
country at all - that is, no local customer service person has been
appointed, no evidence of a gallery to be opened, despite the previous idea
of one being opened in a major shopping centre in Sydney, Westfield, Bondi
Junction. Probably the largest such centre in Australia.
There certainly is no "get amped" tour and no test drives such as they have
had in Hong Kong or Japan.
As both a shareholder and reservation holder (sig#9), I REALLY would love to
hear directly from you, what the situation is more accurately. Being left in
some kind of limbo like this is very uncomfortable, what with the roll out
in Europe, now apparently China and right hand drive Japan this year.
Australia, population wise, is perhaps a perceived small market for you,
but, I assure you, wealthy enough and technologically switched on enough to
become a major export market out of proportion to our population size. Take
up here is also likely to influence perceptions about the car elsewhere in
the world given our close ties to Great Britain.
I look forward to some accurate direction from you.
Hi David,
Thanks for the note.
We plan to start deliveries of RHD in 2014. We do not know at this point when in 2014. We are doing all we can to make it happen as soon as possible, but we can't be more definitive until we get closer to the start of production. There is a lot to do prior to starting RHD deliveries. It is not the same as what we had to do to begin worldwide distribution of LHD Model S. RHD Model S is like a whole different car and must go thru all the crash tests and other homologation efforts as if it were a completely different car than the LHD version of Model S. We have target timelines set like we did with LHD to get thru this process, but all these timelines are estimates at this point.
As we get closer, we will begin marketing efforts that will include all the types of things you have suggested. We will open a store, hire a full time staff, expand the service center and send cars over for test drives. At some point we will also begin working with the press to get them behind the wheel. All this will take place as we get closer to the start of production, just like it is happening now in Europe. Test drive cars just began hitting our stores in April and May in anticipation of our start of deliveries in a few months.
One clarification, we are delivering LHD Model S in Japan this year. Some drivers in Japan enjoy driving LHD cars and have reserved LHD vs RHD. That is what we are delivering first in Japan, not RHD. Sorry for the confusion.
I know this answer may not be as concrete as you would like to hear, but it is the best answer I can give you at the moment until I have better visibility into a target date when everything can be ready for start of RHD production.
Have a great week!
George
- - - Updated - - -
As I had to negotiate with my Owners Corporation to install a power point for my car I started the process early and got approval last year. So I could lock in the approval I went ahead with the install and just used the advice I received from Tesla Australia regarding the Roaster which is a Clipsal 56p532 plug which means a 56SO532 socket. Even though these are designed for 3 phase the Roadster only supported single phase charging so only one phase was wired up. In any case I did not have access to single phase and was limited to 32 Amps by the OC. At worst I may have to change the socket when the Model S arrives.
following my experience with getting a reply from George, it is worth writing to him direct with the specific charging standard question. I have previously written that I would like to see 3 phase available to us here. Hopefully the factory remembers. Let us know how you go.