Italian coach builders ARES Design are offering a drop-top version of the Tesla Model S – which begs the question: why doesn’t Tesla?
Tesla first showed off its second-generation Roadster way back in 2017 – and hasn’t really mentioned it, since. That’s despite the fact that several buyers pre-paid the Roadster’s $250,000 asking price, and are still waiting. What’s more, the company has been roundly criticized for its aging model line, and its four-hour long “Investor Day” event last week disappointed fans who were expecting to see a new Tesla revealed.
It would seem like the EV brand could do something on both counts by doing something relatively simple: they could chop the top off their blazing-fast Tesla Model S Plaid super sports sedan!
That’s the basic idea behind the Italian-built ARES roadster you see here. Built in low volumes for well-heeled customers, the car is a shortened, chopped, and refinished Model S sedan with an upscale interior, lowered suspension, and subtly updated bodywork.
It’s a stunner. “At ARES, our Co-create philosophy allows clients to work side by side with our designers and engineers to create their very own bespoke vehicle, a service that is unique to ARES,” explains Ares’ Co-founder and CEO Dany Bahar. “This Tesla project is a superb example of this: it was a pure coachbuilding project which we very much enjoy doing and seeing the results of our uncompromising standards.”
If Bahar’s name sounds familiar, that’s because he’s the ex-CEO of Lotus Cars who was fired in disgrace and then sued into the stone age. He seems to have bounced back pretty well, though, and there’s no denying the guy knows both great cars and EVs – the first Tesla Roadster was based on the Lotus Elise!
The best part of all this? It proves that Tesla could do something like this themselves, or even that they could farm it out (there’s a precedent – the Cadillac Allante was built by Pininfarina, and the original W124 Mercedes-Benz 500E was assembled by Porsche). If they did decide to make something like this a reality, we think it would be a winner.
What do you think? Would you buy an ultra-luxe, drop-top version of Tesla’s big Plaid if you could? Let us know, in the comments.
Ares Design Tesla Model S Convertible
SOURCE | IMAGES: ARES DESIGN, VIA TOPGEAR.
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