Tesla Model S: The electric car for 'mistresses', apparently

Most buyers of expensive luxury sedans are men, and most Tesla Model S electric car drivers seem to be men too.

There are notable exceptions, of course, including NASCAR ARCA-series racer and self-described “vegetarian hippie chick” Leilani Münter.

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But now, apparently, the fast, sleek, expensive, and fashionable Model S is also a gift for wealthy men to give to their fiancées as a demonstration of their power.

That, at least, seems to be the message from the latest episode of “Mistresses,” a primetime soap opera now in its second season on ABC-TV.

The drama deals with “the lives of four female friends and their involvement in an array of illicit and complex relationships,” in the understated words of Wikipedia.

The episode, entitled “Choices,” aired Monday night. About 15 minutes into the story, it not only shows the Model S being delivered, but includes a shot of the car’s huge dashboard touchscreen display.

We don’t have frame grabs from those scenes, unfortunately, but the Tesla topic comes up again in a second scene.

In that scene, Joss (the fiancée in question) bemoans to her friend April the dependency she feels the gift of a Model S imposes on her, and muses about calling off her engagement as a resullt.

April: “So, what’s the problem, OK? You had a fight with Scott?”

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Joss: [sob]

April: “OK…”

Joss: “He bought me a Tesla”

April: “I think we have different definitions of the word ‘problem’…”

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Joss explains that she loved the unnamed “coupe” that she had saved up for and bought herself after hard bargaining — but that the Tesla is a gift, “the gift of dependency.”

While she’d thought the hardest part of marriage would be monogamy, she said, that’s not a problem with Scott.

Instead, it’s the balance of power issues in the relationship — which the gift of a Tesla “throws…all out of whack,” since it’s a car she “couldn’t afford in a million years.”

This “crazy Tesla thing freaks me out,” she emotes.

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April explains that giving a Tesla to your fiancée is entirely different than giving a Tesla to your mistress, but Joss doesn’t see it.

Joss: “When am I ever supposed to get mad at him when he can hold a Tesla over my head?”

The challenge of Model S ownership may be summed up by one single line, however:

Joss: “And you wanna know the worst part? I’m already getting used to it.”

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More than 50,000 Tesla Model S owners around the world may nod in sympathy.

Makes us wonder if the scriptwriter happens to be a Model S owner.

[hat tip: Brian Henderson]

This story originally appeared on Green Car Reports. Copyright 2014

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