It’s been rumoured for a while, but the news is finally confirmed.

Tesla will begin accepting online orders for Model S and Model X vehicles in the UAE, with first orders expected to be delivered in Dubai this summer, it has been announced.

UAE customers can now visit the automaker’s online design studio to customise and order the vehicles. Unsurprisingly, they don’t come cheap – prices start from Dhs275,000 for the Model S and Dhs344,000 for the Model X.

Here’s a video that shows what they’re all about:

Meanwhile, a Tesla Ranger service centre is currently under construction near Interchange Two of Sheikh Zayed Road, which will open in July, along with a pop-up store in Dubai Mall. Another store and service centre is expected to open in Abu Dhabi next year.

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Tesla has also established two “Supercharging” locations for its electric vehicles at the Last Exit in Jebel Ali and in Masdar City, and expects to open five additional locations by the end of the year.

The UAE is already home to a number of Tesla’s “Destination” chargers, which are available at 26 locations, including hotels and shopping malls. More than 50 chargers will be added by the end of the year.

WHAT ELON MUSK SAID

The announcement was made at a Tesla press conference at the World Government Summit, where founder Elon Musk spoke of his personal vision of the future.

“I hope we are out there on Mars – and maybe beyond Mars, maybe to Jupiter… I hope we are travelling frequently throughout the solar system, perhaps preparing for missions to nearby star systems. I think all of this is possible within 50 years.

“I think we’ll see autonomy and artificial intelligence advance tremendously. My guess is in probably 10 years it will be very unusual for cars to be built that are not fully autonomous.”

Here’s a video where you can catch most of his talk:

Think autonomous cars are cool? Sure, but they’ve got nothing on autonomous aerial vehicles (more on these to come)…

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