Tesla strikes again at Pebble Beach - Automotive News
-- Up the manicured lawn on Peter Hay Hill, past the live band at the enormous and electric Infiniti booth, across the path from the Cadillac and Lexus displays, the crowds gathered and gawked and pointed and stared. A Tesla booth, the star of Pebble, fittingly alone and the center of its own world. Among the Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Paganis -- cars as ubiquitous last week at NorCal gas stations as minivans are in the Midwest -- one brand kept parking itself into conversations. If there is one constant as of late at the 65-year-old Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, it is this: Everyone wants to talk about Tesla. And isn't that a fascinating place on the conversation podium for a brand that made its first appearance here in 2006, under a 10-by-10 tent, dressed as a Lotus Elise. Big car dealers want to know about the franchise's courtroom challenges. The brand has become so dominant within industry lexicon, the words "Tesla fighter" could be a car category. Just last week, Audi released a teaser about an all-electric SUV that it will launch within a few years. And at the Concours, Aston Martin CEO Andy Palmer talked of plans for an electric, all-wheel-drive, 800-hp Rapide with a 200-mile range. Aston is going on the offensive for a powerful, seductive electric car positioned above a loaded Model S. Palmer even mentioned the "T" word before dropping an adjective or. Source: www.autonews.com
