North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) Environment Minister Now Drives A Tesla Model S
We’ve covered the bizarre drama that accompanies Tesla’s relationship with the German auto industry (and collective ego) for some time now, providing a number of interesting data points for those who note that observing “human nature” is similar to taking a trip to the zoo …
And now we have a new one for our readers: the environment minister of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Johannes Remmel, recently took delivery of a Tesla Model S … and apparently invited the criticism of many Germans for doing so.
Remmel has apparently responded by sensibly noting that he had no choice, as there were no German-made electric cars with the range to meet his needs. That’s likely true for a large number of people in the country.
Why criticize an environment minister (of all people) for buying an all-electric car that was made elsewhere when there are no comparable offerings made within the country? Shouldn’t those criticizing Remmel instead be criticizing the German auto manufacturers for not offering a decent electric car?
I suppose that would be too sensible for some people.
Green Car Reports provides more:
This is partly due to the expectation that government officials drive German cars, but Remmel indicated that no domestic manufacturers offered a car that met his needs.
Remmel wanted an electric car, and said the Model S was the only one with enough range to allow him to travel around the state of North Rhine-Westphalia easily.
His decision was also criticized because of the high purchase price of the Model S –reported at €110,430 ($115,000).
That price indicates Remmel purchased a higher-end model, as Tesla recently tweaked its German pricing to ensure at least some versions of the Model S started below €60,000 ($64,000).
That’s because electric-car incentives introduced by Germany last year don’t apply to cars costing more than that amount.
Buyers of lower-priced electric cars can qualify for a €4,000 ($4,280) rebate under the incentive program.
Interesting, but I don’t quite understand why people would criticize him for purchasing a more expensive electric car when that means that he doesn’t qualify for incentives as a result. Shouldn’t that be applauded? It means he didn’t utilize government funds for a luxury car purchase. Regardless, though, who are the critics kidding — the Mercedes and Audis driven by ministers there aren’t the relatively “cheap” ones either; they’re the expensive ones.
Photo by Zach Shahan | CleanTechnica
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