Tesla’s $135,000 Model

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Jan 13, 6:56AM EST · Published Jun 11, 9:15AM EDT

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Among the media coverage of the new, low-priced Model S 60D, and a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) warning about Tesla Motors Inc.’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) disclose agreements, the company continues to quietly sell the most expensive electric car in the world, the P90D supercar, which has not gotten much attention since it was launched in December 2015. The high-end Tesla model costs $135,000.

Recently, Tesla has decided to go down market with cheaper cars. The Model 3, priced as low as $35,000, has been ordered by nearly 400,000 people, who are so excited they may wait many months before they get their cars. Tesla has also launched the Model X crossover.

The P90D is at the top of the Model S line. It has a set of features well beyond its cheaper versions. The P90D has a range of 270 miles. It has a 90 kWh engine. In what Tesla calls it “ludicrous” mode, it goes from 0 to 60 MPH in 2.6 seconds, a figure nearly unmatched by any other car available to the public.

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The P90D has been compared to the Mercedes 650 HP E63 Bi Turbo AMG, which has a base price of $102,625. It has beaten the Tesla in some races. Among other comparisons, there are the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, BMW M5, Mercedes S65 and Jaguar XJR. All but the Hellcat, which has a 705 HP engine, are luxury cars.

The car the most often compared to the P90D is the BMW i8. It carries a price of $141,695. What BMW does not promote is that it is really not an electric car:

As a plug-in hybrid, the BMW i8 combines an electric motor with a combustion engine for unparalleled power and performance. Launching from 0 to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds, this vehicle is as efficient as it is dynamic.

The all-electric motor is situated on the front axle, while the TwinPower Turbo 3-cylinder engine drives the rear axle. When combined, these two elements deliver an innovative all-wheel drive sports car with a total system output of 357 horsepower, 420 lb-ft of torque as well as an added electrical boost inherent to eDrive vehicles.

A car close enough to electric, but hardly one that can claim the honor.

The P90D has been lost in the fog of all the other Tesla models, a supercar barely noticed.

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Correction: The battery is what is rated at 90 kWh (or 90 kilowatt x hour), not the engine.There are two engines in the P90D, rated at 503 hp rear and 259 hp front.

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.