The Ares Design Tesla Model S Shooting Brake.

ZURICH: The Tesla Model S is seen as a revolutionary car that's set a standard for electric cars now and in the future, so it's perhaps a little surprising that so many customisers want to get their hands on it. And rather than boosting the power of the electric propulsion system or making them into hardcore sports cars, it seems many of them want to turn the Model S into a shooting brake body style, and an Italian company called Ares Design is the latest to come with its own Model S shooting brake.

Ares has released an image of what it has to be said is an attractive and coherent take on the Model S, which is probably somewhere in between the two previous attempts we've see over the last few months. The one from London-based Dutch designer Niels van Roij was more futuristic and upscale, while the other from British firm Qwest Norfolk, reportedly thought up in a pub, focuses on giving the vehicle more cargo room.




This one from Ares Design stays closest to the original Tesla design, and the image the company has released looks a lot like it could have been an official Tesla model. But as well as turning the Model S into a more practical estate or wagon format, the Ares is also supposed to be upping the game in terms of the interior as this one is said to be much more luxurious than the original car.

Inspiration for this concept came from the company's CEO (ex-Lotus CEO) Dany Bahar, who owned and drove a Tesla Model S on a daily basis. A company spokesman said of Bahar's experience of the Model S, "while he could appreciate its performance and technology, [he] felt that it was somewhat limited by its hatchback design...." And that he also "felt that the quality of the interior was letting the car down and certainly not up to the same quality as rivals such as Mercedes or BMW."

The comments are unlikely to endear Ares Design to Tesla anytime soon, but buyers will be able to judge for themselves from early summer when the car goes on sale with prices ranging between €200,000 and €250,000 euros (between RM969,000 and RM1.2mil).

Keywords