The New Status Car Might Be Tesla

photo borrowed from Crain's article, credit: Kendall Karmanian

Tesla has become the new status car among many top executives who I interact with for work.

And this was just reinforced by an article I just spotted on my Facebook feed by Crain's Chicago Business (The new status car: Tesla).

What I've heard first hand is that people are liking the physical appearance of the vehicles, as well as the ability to peruse the company's offerings while at the shopping mall, since most of the company's retail presence is in higher-end shopping centers (my nearest one is in Oak Brook Shopping Center in Oak Brook, Illinois). Folks are fascinated by the fact that you can turn the car on while in an enclosed space because there are zero emissions.

Many folks are probably also captivated by the uniqueness of having an all-electric vehicle which is brand new on the market, and so the perception would be that a buyer would be in the "first adopter" category instantaneously by driving one of these cars down their posh neighborhood street.

Many top executives are probably playing around with the idea of being seen as socially responsible by going for an "environmentally friendly" electric vehicle with no emissions. Never mind that most of the electric power is probably coming from a nuclear plant nearby...Personally, I think the Model S resembles the new Jaguars and Porsche Panameras quite a bit, which are anyway cars that are targeted to this particular demographic in the first place. These are solid sedans (or saloons like the British call them) with sleek lines and fully loaded interiors.

It will be interesting to see how many conservative top execs actually start driving these around town. I'll be keeping an eye out for the upcoming Model X, which is their SUV model.