Tesla Roadster Sport announced

Tesla Motors, which is probably now best known in the UK for its spat with Top Gear as much as for its electric sports car, has announced a new version of the Tesla, the Tesla Roadster Sport.

The Tesla Roadster Sport will be available from the summer, for around €112K, and claims a 0-60 time of 3.7 seconds, a 0.2 improvement on the existing Tesla Roadster. The extra power comes from fiddling with the stator in the motor and an increased winding density for less resistance (I’m sure that must make sense if you understand Electric Motors – I’m still stuck on the internal combustion engine – must keep up!). The Tesla Roadster Sport also gets Yokohama Ultra High Performance tyres and some suspension tweaks.

The Tesla Roadster Sport is the first new car from Tesla (well, new-ish) and sports the first tweaks to the Tesla powertrain since it was launched. An all new saloon is promised sometime next year. The Tesla Roadster and S are based on the Lotus chassis, but no word yet on what the underpinnings for the saloon will be when it arrives. Existing customers waiting for the Tesla Roadster will be able to upgrade their order to the S.

Despite all the hype, Tesla has only actually produced 150 cars, although it claims a waiting list of 1100. At the current rate of production we’ll all be driving Hydrogen powered EVs before they get to the end of the waiting list, but I’m sure with that amount of pre-orders, and this new model plus the saloon to come, they shouldn’t have much trouble finding the funding to ramp up production.

Still, any car that can produce this sort of performance with less running costs and lower emissions must be applauded.