Wanna know why it so long took took? Look at the freakin' features
Yesterday Tesla launched their highly-anticipated Model X, the design-packed SUV model whose features beggar belief.
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First off the 5,441-pound car is absurdly fast—the Performance model clocks 0-60 in 3.2 seconds—and powerful enough to tow 5,000 pounds. It's got a 250-mile range and can carry seven people.
The windshield—"the largest all glass panoramic windshield in production," according to Tesla—is so damn big that it's practically the roof.
So why did the Model X, first announced in 2012, take the company longer than they thought it would to produce? In a nutshell, because they designed some seriously awesome features—then had to figure out how to engineer them. Take the second-row seats, which are no mere bench; instead each of the three seats sit on their own "monopost" and can recline independently of the others. "The designers drew inspiration from high-end office chairs," says Wired, "and admit they were, like the doors, a bitch to engineer."
The doors they're referring to are not the front doors, which open automatically as the driver approaches; that was presumably easy. They mean the rear "falcon wing" doors. These are brilliantly ergonomic: Getting in and out of the car is no longer a duck-head-and-twist affair, and parents can tend to children in the seats without needing to crouch. The articulating doors have sensors that can detect if a car or wall is next to you, and also measure the ceiling height of your garage, and the doors automatically adjust as they open to avoid hitting anything.
Speaking of not hitting things, an upcoming software upgrade--delivered OTA or "over the air," naturally--will confer an autopilot function that allows the car to drive itself on highways. Collision avoidance is, naturally, built-in.
Cabin air is scrubbed by a "medical grade HEPA filter" that can be thrown into, get this, a "bioweapon defense mode that creates positive pressure inside the cabin to protect occupants."
"I think we got a little carried away with the X," Tesla CEO Elon Musk told Reuters. "There is far more there than is really necessary to sell a car. And some of the things are so difficult, they make the car better but the difficulty of engineering those parts is so high."
That explains why the Model X missed its original launch date of 2013, and revised launch date of 2014. But it's here now, and even if it's late, it's early: Would-be luxury electric SUV competitors Audi and Porsche won't have comparable vehicles market-ready for another three years.
And if an electric Tesla appeals to you but the Model X's $132,000 to $142,000 price is out of your range, fret not: By 2017 the company is planning to roll out their entry-level, $35,000 Model III.
Here's some video of the launch, containing a brief clip of the falcon wing doors in action:
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