On hand for the opening of a new Tesla store in London, Elon Musk dropped a tidbit of news about the upcoming Model X crossover. ​”The Model X price will be very similar to the Model S. It’s probably going to be a slightly higher starting price because the Model X will only be offered as all-wheel-drive. So it’ll be dual-motor all-wheel drive.” The permanent AWD will give the Model X “substantial off-road ability” and “magical road-holding.” said Musk.

Musk also discussed the Model S, which is scheduled to be launched in the UK in March 2014 at a price of “somewhere in the region of £55,000 ($87,700).” Musk plans to personally deliver the first right-hand drive Model S to an unnamed “high-profile” person. AutoBlog Green guessed that it will be Richard Branson (it definitely won’t be Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson).

Elon also had some interesting things to say in an interview on BBC Newsnight. He confirmed that Tesla will soon be building a British network of free Superchargers, powered by solar panels designed to generate a net surplus of electricity. Presenter Gavin Esler sounded skeptical, asking with a chuckle if Musk had been outside, but our man assured him that solar energy is available even when the sky is overcast, as the Sceptered Isle’s verdant landscape demonstrates.

The two also discussed the Hyperloop proposal, and compared it to the much more modest transport projects underway in California and the UK. “Do we suffer from a low level of ambition? Should we think bigger?” asked Esler. The Iron Man thinks so: “You want to do projects that are inspiring and that make people excited about the future. Life’s got to be about more than just solving problems.”

Image: JD Lasica/Flickr
Source: AutoBlog Green, The Times, BBC Newsnight