TESLA MODEL S

Looking back on the automobile's iPhone moment | TESLA AIMS TO ELEVATE THE ELECTRIC CAR FROM INTRIGUING CURIOUSITY TO A VIABLE MEANS OF EVERYDAY TRANSPORT

- SCOTT NEWMAN

IT'S UNCLEAR AT this point whether Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk intends to save the world or try and take it over. Perhaps it's both. In between building space transportation vehicles, planning to colonise Mars and inventing new methods of high-speed transport, the 43-year-old Canadian billionaire entrepreneur found time to create the world's first manufacturer of all-electric cars.

Tesla's first offering was the Roadster. Built from 2008-2012, the Elise-based sports car offered range and performance that remains unmatched by any other electric car manufacturer and found approximately 2600 willing early adopters, mainly in the US. The company's second attempt, however, is far more ambitious. By positioning the Model S as a luxurious sedan, Tesla aims to elevate the electric car from intriguing curiosity to a viable means of everyday transport.

To save you the suspense, it's done it. In a number of significant ways, the Model S moves the automotive game on markedly. There are still hurdles to overcome, but for what is essentially its first mass-produced car, Tesla has done an incredible job. Imagine if Henry Ford had decided to skip those tedious first 90 years of evolution and simply introduce a mid-'90s Mondeo as his first production car. That might not sound very exciting, but think what a technical achievement it would've been.

The Model S is available from $91,400 with a 60kWh battery pack that provides 285kW and 345km of range, but this being MOTOR we've opted for the rangetopping $127,800 P85+, its 85kWh battery providing 310kW/601Nm, 0-100km/h in just 4.4sec and a claimed 486km of range. The reardrive P85+ has actually now been discontinued in favour of the new P85D, a 515kW/931Nm all-wheel drive rocketship that'll hit 100km/h in 3.4sec. We'll be driving it as soon as it arrives mid-year.