Tesla Model S turns in to Jaguar XF

Jaguar XF - or is it a Tesla?

Tesla seem convinced – or at least they’re doing all they can to convince the public – that the Tesla Model S is a soon to be reality, despite all in the industry saying they can’t deliver what they are offering – a high-end, luxury, high-spec sports saloon with a 300 mile range – for the sort of money they claim.

That money – as we learned recently – is to be $69,500 for the Tesla S with the 300 mile battery, a price that’s had many scratching their heads over how Tesla can stick enough laptop batteries in the Model S to go that far, and how they can do it at a price that’s a good thirty per cent less than the ‘Lotus-with-batteries’ Tesla Roadster.

Still, Tesla now say that the Model S will be a reality in 2012 and they’ve managed to secure 4,600 deposits on the car from around the world, so they’ll soon have to put up or shut up (shop).

Yes, they’re only $5k deposits (and yes, they are refundable), but it does demonstrate that people are interested in a decent looking, high-performance electric sports saloon that seems to make no compromises – and certainly doesn’t wear a hair-shirt – in its quest to offer a viable alternative.

And as we get closer to the ‘reality’ of the Model S, it looks as though Tesla’s designers have had a bit of a tweak with the design to make it even better looking, certainly if the photos we got in on Friday from Tesla of the Model S ‘Alpha’ are anything to go by.

We were impressed; a damn fine looking car we thought. But then we would. It looks as though the Model S has morphed in to the Jaguar XF – one of our favourite cars.

Perhaps not the front end, but the arse is a dead-ringer for the XF – and none the worse for that, it has to be said. To our eyes the XF is the best looking car in its class – and even better as the 2012 XF – and let’s not forget that the XF is the car that was the key to Jaguar’s renaissance.

Perhaps that’s the key to Tesla’s homage?

By Cars UK