Tesla Model X Testing Spy Shot

The Tesla Model X with its Falcon Wing doors should be introduced to the world as a production vehicle next week at the Detroit Auto Show.  Testing of it however is continuing in real world conditions and some lucky West Coast enthusiasts are seeing them out on the streets.

This one was spotted in Culver City, CA.  As Culver City is quite a distance (370 odd miles) from the Tesla plant in Fremont, CA, this vehicle isn't on some sort of quick trip around the block and back so it is likely a very close to production version.  Perhaps even an early demo given to some Hollywood muckity muck who was supportive of Tesla early on?

Regardless we should be seeing more and more of these out in public.  It will be interesting to see if the same powerplant and batteries as the Model S can provide the same mileage and overall performance in the Model X--particularly when the soccer moms get a hold of it and stuff it full of kids and luggage--something that hasn't been a problem to date in the Model S.

Tesla Introduces (kinda) its Model X

This was at the grand opening of Tesla's home town Palo Alto store this weekend.  In addition to showing off their new digs, Tesla brought out a real life version of its Model X CUV.

To reach the market in '14 and sell for approximately the same amount as the current Tesla Model S.  Some cool things to note are the touch screens located ON the steering wheel as well as the "falcon" (for some reason they aren't calling them "gull wing") doors and the inclusion of sideview mirrors that were thought to be eliminated with rear facing cameras.  Evidently the Feds haven't signed off on this idea and so a version closer to production is now including them.

The CUV is based on the Model S chassis but will not include the rear jump seats that the Model S does and instead increases the roofline and flips the rearmost seats around supposedly creating a true seven adult seating vehicle.  The photos make the seating look pretty tight so it will be interesting how that is reviewed when the vehicle is available for review.  We'll see a lot more of the Model X in the coming months but its nice to see Tesla's second production model coming to fruition.