[translations idioma=”ES” url=”https://archives.rgnn.org/2014/01/31/tesla-anuncia-su-colaboracion-con-sixt”]
MUNICH, GERMANY. Elon Musk, CEO and Chief Product Architect of Tesla Motors, announced a leasing and financing partnership with Sixt last night at the Tesla showroom in Munich, Germany. For an effective monthly cost of 500 Euros, future clients will be able to lease a Tesla car, Musk stated. When asked about the fine print, he further specified that these monthly payments are in addition to a 10% down payment to be paid before leasing the car, equivalent to about 7,000 Euros.

But the financing program goes beyond the mere leasing of an electric car. Committed to sustainable energy resources, Musk further announced that, in collaboration with the Stadtwerke, or municipal utilities services, Tesla will offer clients leasing Tesla cars a bonus on the electricity bill for their homes, if and only if they can demonstrate they are using green electricity.

Those still doubting the purchase or lease of an electric car in Germany were assured, both by Musk and JB Straubel, CTO of Tesla Motors, that all of Germany will be provided with supercharging stations by the end of 2014. “We will have the whole of Germany covered, end of story,” stated Musk.

In the question and answer session, he showed himself to be open to accepting new ideas. A mother who plans to travel with her electric car during the coming summer, for example, incited Musk to build Tesla-specific playgrounds near the supercharging stations. In Germany, the supercharging stations are currently only surrounded by trucks, an unsuitable environment for kids who want to run around during the 30-minute wait while the car charges.

While Musk smiled at and accepted this remark, he was more adamant when opponents proposed they had a better battery that he could use. “I get a lot of suggestions concerning batteries,” he explained. Having received quite a number of empty suggestions, with no actual battery prototype to see, he has come to the following conclusion: “What I say is, ‘send me the battery’ and then we can talk.”

All in all, despite his ambitious ideas, he is down-to-earth about the future of Tesla, taking one step at a time and putting safety first. Every aspect of a new car has to be tested, he asserted, demonstrating himself aware of the fact that an issue might not show up in 100 test cars, but could become evident in 500 test cars.

To put his company in perspective, he outlined that Tesla Motors currently produces around 30,000 cars per year, compared to about 1,8 million produced by the BMW group, for example. “We are a small company,” Musk said, underlining Tesla Motors’ need to allocate resources effectively. To date, Tesla has around 3,000 employees and 31 locations.

While he is working “superhard” on Tesla’s growth, he is also open to sharing resources, willing to forge partnerships, for example, to share the supercharging stations with partners who share Tesla’s vision never to charge for using the supercharging stations – and meeting the electrical specifications, of course. “We can’t have the car blow up,” he joked.

To conclude, he commented briefly on the Los Angeles-San Francisco Hyperloop. Currently still in the testing phase, Musk said that if there is customer demand for the project, then he will move forward.

Musk himself is off to Norway and Holland this coming week. “We cannot announced everything here [in Munich],” he said. Stay tuned for more announcements, then.