Tesla unveiled its long-awaited crossover SUV aimed at the safety-conscious soccer mom…oh who has $132,000 in her back pocket to spare for this vehicle.
But wait…before Tesla unveiled its new Model X SUV last Tuesday, it had already secured at least 30,000 pre-orders, mainly from North America!
Wowza! Sight unseen. Test-drive undone. Yup!
Some won’t even get their SUVs delivered until 2016.
During a Tuesday exhibition in San Francisco before journalists, Tesla’s founder Elon Musk unveiled the Signature Model X and showed off all its fancy features like computer controlled “falcon wing” doors that open on the side. It has super ultrasonic sensors to prevent the doors from dinging nearby vehicles in the mall parking lot.
It boasts an ultra-thin profile and the rear seats can scoot forward by themselves — even with baby still strapped in his infant carrier, so other passengers can access the back of the SUV. Fancy.
It has a dual-motor, all-wheel drive system, and will be the first EV-SUV of its kind to have towing ability.
And if you need speed, the Signature Model X line will go from 0 to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds with a top speed of 155 mph.
“This thing goes so fast it’s wrong,” Musk said at the event.
Tesla promised to release this model in 2013 and it has been delayed successively, perhaps because as Musk explained Tuesday, it was “the most difficult car in the world to build.”
Musk admitted that he could have sold the cars without the extra bells and whistles they added to it, like a panoramic windshield and an air-filtration system with a “bioweapon defense mode.” No Zombie apocalyptic germs will get in this puppy!
The Model X has a triple-layer-carbon air filter that can virtually eliminate all bacteria from the cabin.
In August, Tesla had received “22,538 reservations for the SUV in North America, which is its largest market. The figure represents 75% of the global reservations. 21,193 Americans and 1,346 Canadians are eagerly waiting for their Model X,” Business Finance News reported.
The company obtained 4,680 orders from Europe, which reflects 16% of the global orders. Asia Pacific only contributes 9% of the worldwide reservations with 2,809 orders. In Asia Pacific, Tesla has received 2,345 orders from China, 366 from Hong Kong, and 98 from Australia.
Don’t fret, lowly middle class families, Musk revealed that it will start work on its Model 3, a lower-cost sedan that could retail around $35,000. You just have to wait a little while longer given production on that version won’t begin until two years from now.
Whoa!
photos: Teslarati