Ford Motor pays more than sticker price to study Tesla’s Model X SUV
FORD Motor paid US$ 199,950 ( RM779,800) to US$ 55,000 more than the sticker price – to buy one of the first sport utility vehicles made by Tesla Motors so it could test and examine the electric SUV.
Ford bought the 64th Model X, a white Founders Series version, last month. Spied recently in the Detroit area with Michigan manufacturers’ plates, it originally belonged to a California coin dealer who bought it as part of Tesla’s customerreferral promotion.
Auto makers often buy cars made by competitors for road testing and for “tear- downs” to reveal components and materials and how they’re put together. But it’s unusual to pay such a high price – almost US$ 212,000 after Michigan sales tax and title – for such an early model.
“Wow, I hope that investment pays off in some good intelligence,” Michelle Krebs, senior analyst for researcher Autotrader.com, said of the premium Ford paid. “If you’re going to be one of the early buyers, you’re probably going to pay well over list. But that’s significant.”
Krebs suspects other major auto makers, such as General Motors and Toyota Motor, are also among early buyers of the Model X.
Auto makers are looking for ways to make highly profitable SUVs more fuel efficient as they race to meet a federal mandate to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. Ford is investing US$ 4.5 billion in electrified vehicles and will add 13 electric cars and hybrids by 2020.
“We’re going to definitely see more electrification and lightweighting,” Krebs said. “Those are the things I suspect Ford would be taking special note of as they develop their sport utilities of the future.”
Krebs said she hopes Chief Executive Officer Mark Fields and Executive Chairman Bill Ford, as well as the automaker’s top engineers and designers, get some seat time in the Model X.
“Everybody should be exposed to one of your hottest competitors,” Krebs said.
One Ford executive spotted driving the company’s white Model X was David Woodhouse, chief designer of the automaker’s Lincoln luxury line, according to a person who saw him. Woodhouse oversaw the creation of the Lincoln Navigator concept SUV that debuted at the New York Auto Show last month.
Like the Model X, the Navigator concept featured gull-wing doors, though Ford said that feature won’t be on the production version of the SUV. Ford declined to confirm who is driving the car.
Tesla’s first Model Xs are limited- edition Founders Series – fewer than 100 of them were made – that typically go to board members and close friends of the company like Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Those are followed by the Signature Series models, which require a US$ 40,000 deposit from customers and start at US$ 132,000.
According to vehicle registration documents obtained by Bloomberg, the window-sticker price on the all-wheel- drive Model X P90D that Ford purchased is US$ 144,950, including the US$ 10,000 Ludicrous Speed Upgrade that boasts a 0-to- 60 miles per hour time of 3.2 seconds.
The original owner of the Model X that was ultimately purchased by Ford was Wayne Skiles, 71, who owns and operates the Carousel Coin & Jewellery Exchange in San Bernardino, California.
Skiles owns a Model S sedan and participated in Tesla’s Model S referral programme. Customers who referred at least 10 friends to purchase a Model S were able to buy a Model X Founders Series for a base price of US$ 116,700. — WPBloomberg