EV maker set to open in Copenhagen

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Electric car maker Tesla is showing no signs of slowing down its rapid rollout in Europe, opening its fifth European showroom in Denmark this week.

The California-based brand plans to open its Copenhagen store July 1, after opening a store in Zurich earlier this month and London, Munich and Monaco last year.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in 2009 that he expected sales to eventually be split evenly between Europe and the United States, which has eight Tesla showrooms.

In opening its Copenhagen store, Tesla is expected to laud the environmental credentials of Denmark's capital city, which is renowned for its green initiatives and hosted the COP15 climate change conference last year.

Until competitors from the likes of Nissan, Mitsubishi and Chevrolet go on sale later this year, Tesla holds the unique position of being the only automaker to have brought a series-produced zero-emission car to a global market - over 1,000 have been sold to date.

In May, it announced a partnership with leading hybrid maker Toyota to work on electric vehicles, which saw Toyota take a stake in the firm ahead of a planned IPO on June 29, the first by a US car company in 54 years.

Toyota has said it intends to have electric vehicles on the market alongside its Plug-in Prius hybrids by 2012.

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