Ford Motor Co. paid $199,950 — $55,000 more than the sticker price — to buy one of the first sport utility vehicles made by Tesla Motors Inc., according to vehicle registration documents obtained by Bloomberg.
The white Model X is a Founders Series with a vehicle identification number indicating it was the 64th one made at Tesla’s factory in Fremont.
“Wow, I hope that investment pays off in some good intelligence,” Michelle Krebs, senior analyst for researcher Autotrader.com, said of the premium Ford paid.
Krebs suspects other major automakers, such as General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp., are also among early buyers of the Model X. Automakers are looking for ways to make highly profitable SUVs more fuel efficient as they race to meet a federal mandate to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025.
Tesla’s first Model Xs are limited-edition Founders Series — fewer than 100 were made — that typically go to board members and close friends of the company like Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
Customers who referred at least 10 friends to purchase a Model S were able to buy a Model X Founders Series for a base price of $116,700.
“It is a common industry practice among many automakers to buy production vehicles for testing as soon as they are released,” Ford said.
Tesla officially launched the Model X at a splashy event in late September, years after the vehicle’s early 2012 unveiling.
Earlier this month, Tesla issued a recall on 2,700 Model Xs made before March 26 to repair the third-row seats after strength tests done by the automaker found a potential defect.
Tesla said this month that Model X deliveries missed first-quarter expectations because of parts shortages stemming from “Tesla’s hubris in adding far too much new technology” to the Model X.
