Talk about customer loyalty being challenged …. It seems that my lifelong loyalty to the Mercedes S Class is being challenged. Ever since I crashed my VW Jetta Gli at college, My road warrior weapon of choice has been the Mercedes S Class, I have had every Model produced since my Dad’s wonderful 1967 250 SE W108, the W116 450, my W126 Series 280 S, 500SE followed by three different W140’s S320’s, a monster V12 CL600, a brief side visit to a 500SL, a SL320 and the AMG powered SL55 that ended up sideways into the wall of a swiss tunnel.
I’ve even experimented with the W163 ML320 (awful), the W164 ML450 (better but still clunky) and cruised across (literally) the continental USA with a X164 GL450 (fantastic).
The most loyal car was a second hand S320 W220 model that carried me safely and comfortably for half a million kilometers around Europe. My beautiful wife then sidetracked me with a couple of BMW ‘s , even a very impressive M6, but whilst hosting a Toys for Tots event at Mercedes in Manhattan , I got back to my roots with a current S-class. Our current matt white W221 S550 4matic is an outstanding car. massage seats, panorama roof, 4wheel drive and every possible option that is available, , but when it’s lease runs out, my loyalty will be severely tested by fellow American-African Elon Musk and his super cool creation, the Tesla Model S.
TESLA REVENUE EXPECTED TO EXCEED GUIDANCE BY 20% IN FOURTH QUARTER
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| TESLA REVENUE EXPECTED TO EXCEED GUIDANCE BY 20% IN FOURTH QUARTER |
| SALES DRIVEN BY SUPERLATIVE SAFETY RECORD AND EXCELLENT COLD WEATHER PERFORMANCE |
| TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2014 |
| PALO ALTO, Calif. – Tesla sales in the fourth quarter of 2013 were the highest in company history by a significant margin. With almost 6,900 vehicles sold and delivered, Tesla exceeded prior guidance by approximately 20%. A higher than expected number of cars was manufactured as a result of an excellent effort by the Tesla production team and key suppliers, particularly Panasonic. |
| The two key drivers of demand were the superlative safety record of the Model S and great performance under extremely cold conditions. |
| Safety Record |
| Tesla remains the only manufacturer with a perfect safety record of zero deaths or serious, permanent injuries ever. Including the Roadster, Tesla vehicles have now been on the road for almost six years in 31 countries with almost 200 million miles driven to date. Despite dozens of high speed collisions, the driver and passengers have always been protected. This is Tesla’s proudest achievement. |
| Independent testing by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) awarded the Tesla Model S a 5 star safety rating overall and in every subcategory without exception. Of all vehicles tested, including every major make and model approved for sale in the United States, the Model S set a new record for the lowest likelihood of injury to occupants. While the Model S is a sedan, it also exceeded the safety score of all SUV’s and minivans. |
| Excellent Cold Weather Performance |
| Due to the precision of its electric powertrain, the Model S has outstanding traction control relative to the much higher latency and inertia of a gasoline powertrain. As a result, it is able to perform better on snow and ice than many all-wheel drive gasoline cars, as shown in this Tesla produced video: |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS9uDJGi52A |
| And many independent reviews and customer produced videos: |
| http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=tesla%20cold%20weather&sm=3 |
| Tesla’s highest sales per capita are in Norway and the individual customer who owns the most cars lives in Narvik, which is above the Arctic Circle. |
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ANRIC BLATT 