With a goal of selling 55,000 vehicles this year, Tesla wants to sell its vehicles such as the Tesla Model S electric sedan to as many markets as it can. But despite strong demand for the EV in Russia, the electric vehicle maker won't be making an official launch soon for political reasons.
So popular is the electric vehicle is in the country that wealthy Russians are willing to pay double the Model S sedan's sticker price just to get their hands on one, according to Bloomberg. Musk himself has a following in the country with over 100,000 likes in his unofficial social media page.
Software executive Andrey Vratskiy bought a Model S for $75,000 and didn't mind spending $12,000 more for shipping and another $50,000 to clear customs. This was two years ago when there weren't many examples roaming the streets. Now, the EV has a fan club with dozens of members and about 250 more can be seen out in the streets.
Other Tesla Model S electric sedan owners reportedly include billionaire Roman Abramovich and bankers Andrei Akimov and Herman Gref of OAO Gazprombank and OAO Sberbank, respectively. Gref told Bloomberg that the EV "doesn't pollute" and is "super cheap and easy to use" via e-mail.
"Two dozen Model S sedans are currently listed on Avto.ru - Russia's largest vehicle-sales website - at up to 11 million rubles ($195,000) each," Green Car Reports wrote.
The EV's popularity remains despite the fact that there are no Tesla dealerships or even Superchargers in the country. As GCR pointed out, the nearest service center is around 550 miles away in Finland.
But Musk's other company, namely SpaceX, is closely tied to the government which makes Tesla's official foray into the Russian market a complicated matter. SpaceX reportedly won a US Air Force contract recently allowing it to conduct military missions with its own rockets.
Despite Vratskiy and his club's repeated pleas, the Tesla Model S electric sedan won't be coming anytime soon, according to the Palo Alto, Calif.-based automaker.
