Ford bought the electric SUV to test its components and learn its engineering
Ford Motor Co. has bought Tesla Model X for an exorbitant price of $199,950 around $55,000 more than the retail price of the SUV in an attempt to test the electric car.
A white Founders Series version was bought by the automaker last month. The vehicle was recently seen in Detroit having a Michigan manufacturer’s plates. The vehicle has been originally been bought by a coin dealer in California under the Tesla’s customer-referral promotion.
This is a general notion in the auto-industry that the companies buy the products of their rivals in order to test them and figure out the engineering of the components in the car. Still, a transaction at such a high price –accumulated to be $212,000 after sales tax and the title –which the Blue Oval has paid — is quite unusual.
Researcher Autotrader.com senior analyst, Michelle Krebs hopes the transaction to turn out well for the company and added that in order to be the early buyer, shoppers have to pay a bit extra amount however the amount paid by the U.S. No. 2 automaker is quite significant.
She also thinks that other rivals including Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Co. may also be in queue of buying the SUV earlier. Since it has been become federally mandatory for the SUVs to be more fuel efficient averaging 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025 therefore many automakers have been actively involved in finding ways for making their SUVs highly profitable while being in line with the federal compliance. It has been reported that, in electrified vehicles, Ford Motors intends to invest around $4.5 billion and by 2020, it is likely to add around thirteen electric cars and hybrids. Krebs also suggested that in the future sport utilities, consumers will see more of light-weighting and electrification.
Model X was officially launched in late September. Earlier, the auto-tech giant recalled around 2,700 Model Xs which were produced before March 26 to renovate the third-row seats which showed some flaws after going through the strength tests.
One of the executives of the Blue Oval who was spotted driving Tesla Model X was the chief designer of the company’s luxury line — Lincoln, named David Woodhouse. Woodhouse has the creation of the Lincoln Navigator concept SUV to his credit. Last month, the vehicle was revealed at New York Auto Show and similar to Model X, the Navigator concept has “gull-wing doors.” However, Ford had said that the door feature is less likely to be added in the SUV’s production version. The company however chose to decline revealing the identity of the driver of the car.
The Palo Alto, Calif. Founders Series Model Xs are limited-edition — close to hundred vehicles have been manufactured only and they are generally given to board members and company’s close friends such as Sergey Brin –Google’s, now subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.’s, co-founder.
The first Model X is then followed by Signature Series model, which starts at $132,000 and require a deposit of around $40,000.
