Canadian to Pay More for the Model S Electric Car

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...But It's Not Really Tesla's Fault

Canadians will be able to buy the Model S electric sedan but it'll cost them more than Americans, even with a strong loonie. They'll be able to choose from one of three battery pack sizes, with the base 40 kWh battery pack Model S starting at $64,500 Canadian dollars (CAD) before provincial tax rebates (depending on the province). Model S with the 60 kWh battery pack and 85 kWh battery pack will start at $75,200 and $85,900 CAD respectively.

Why the higher price?

“Pricing in foreign markets can be very complex, so we have taken a very straightforward, transparent approach to pricing Model S,” said George Blankenship, vice president worldwide sales and ownership experience. “Canadian base prices start with U.S. pricing, plus 6.1 percent for import duties and an additional 1.5 to 2 percent, depending upon the model, for incremental transportation costs and country specific business expenses. The total is then adjusted using the current mid-term currency exchange rate.”

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Despite NAFTA, there's an import duty on parts of the car that are produced outside of NAFTA countries (such as asian-made batteries).

"Option pricing has also been kept very straightforward. In Canada, all models will include heated seats and choice of décor as standard equipment."

Heated seats are not just a luxury. They are a more efficient way to heat people than trying to blow hot air and heat up the whole cabin, so that's better for batteries.

Here's the Canadian webstore page for the Model S.

A Side Note on Tesla Coverage

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And by the way, I'm aware that sometimes lately the Transportation section has looked like TeslaHugger.com. Nothing to worry about, these things are cyclical. There's just been a lot of news about the company lately because of the Model S launch and because Elon Musk has been in the news a lot. There simply isn't as much interesting stories from Nissan or Chevrolet or Toyota these days (it doesn't help that these companies are a lot less transparent than Tesla -- who knows what is going on behind the scenes in Toyota's labs?). I just follow the interesting stories, and it so happens that Tesla's a pretty fascinating company with a lot going on these days. But I'm sure that in the fall other automakers will have more EVs and PHEVs to show us. Stay tuned.

Source: Treehugger