France's Orange signs connected car deal with Tesla

Iain Morris

October 8, 2014

French telecoms incumbent Orange has signed a connected car deal with electric car maker Tesla Motors.

The agreement will see Orange (Paris, France) provide connectivity services for Tesla Model S vehicles sold in France.

Tesla (Palo Alto, CA, USA) says its deal for use of Orange’s mobile networks and SIM cards will allo it to offer French customers interactive navigation services, internet radio and web browsing, as well as provide remote diagnostics and over-the-air updates of M2M software.

“We are excited to bring the connected Model S to our French customers,” said Jerome Guillen, Tesla’s vice president of worldwide sales and services. . “An excellent customer experience is paramount, and we know this is possible through the quality of the Orange mobile network and the company’s constant pursuit of innovation.”

The agreement with Orange is Tesla’s second with a European operator.

In April, the carmaker teamed up with Spain’s Telefonica (Madrid) to provide services in the markets of the UK, Germany, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.

In its domestic market, Tesla has a deal with AT&T (Dallas, TX, USA), which is regarded as one of the telco leaders in the connected car market.