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Students will be getting to grips with a Tesla after their college splashed out £79,000 on the super-car to teach them skills for future jobs.

The electric SUV – which comes complete with winged doors and a panoramic windscreen – can even dance on command.

It is one of several cars to be bought by the Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group so motor vehicle apprentices can be trained in the latest technology.

The Tesla X90 will also be used to inspire lessons across different subjects – with young business brains taking up the first challenge. The Newcastle College students, who are part of a ‘future leaders’ programme, had to come up with a marketing strategy for the car and also complete Apprentice-style tasks in finance and design.

Vice-principal Carl Riding said: “The Tesla is 11 months old and was a Sky Sports star car. It was used to ferry round Thierry Henry.”

Just shy of £1 million is being invested in the new vehicles, charging points, equipment and development work. Half the money is from a Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Local Enterprise Partnership grant, with the rest from college funds.

“At the moment, apprentices are trained in combustion engines. You’ve got to go to a main dealership to be trained in hybrid and electric vehicles,” added Mr Riding.

But from next year, they will be getting hands-on with the new generation of driving machines, including a BMW i3, Toyota Prius and Nissan Leaf.

They won’t be pulling apart the Tesla to work on it. But its high-tech system will be an ideal training ground for computer programming students, as well as the Stafford College-based apprentices.

Nathan Mountford, from Siemens Industry Software, believes it will equip them with vital skills.

He said: “You’ve got a piece of software that has got more processing power than the human brain. The technology sits behind the car.”

He was one of several industry experts invited to support the business students for the day. They were challenged to work on a live business brief using the Tesla.

Nineteen-year-old Maciej Kurtyku, from Burslem, was one of the 25 students involved.

He said: “The Tesla is pretty futuristic, particularly with the way the doors open. In 10 years, every car will be electric or self-driving.”

Fellow business student Elena Presti was also excited to work with the Tesla. The 18-year-old, from Whitmore, said: “It’s not every day that you get to experience something like this. We are really lucky. It gives you a real insight into the business world.”

Whether any of the students go on to become the next Elon Musk remains unknown, but the Tesla chief executive is now inspiring the nest generation with his cars.

Angela Lawrence, a senior lecturer in marketing at Staffordshire University , also took part in the business challenge with the electric vehicle.

She said: “We’ve been getting the students to identify the challenges they think they would have in marketing the car. People can have range anxiety, for instance, where they are concerned about running out of power.”