Elon Musk Unveils Tesla Motors Model X SUV With ‘Falcon Wing’ Doors, Ultrasonic Sensors [Watch]
Tesla Motors Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk unveiled a Model X sport-utility vehicle on Tuesday to an audience of investors, board members and Tesla enthusiasts.
Musk's only regret, he said at the launch, was that the company may have gone a bit overboard with the electric vehicle's engineering, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Model X SUV is loaded with engineering feats, he said.
The unveiling showcased six Model X sport-utility vehicles with unique "falcon wing" doors, huge windshields and pedestal seats. Ultrasonic sensors "tell" the doors to open when you walk toward them and how close the doors are to other vehicles or objects.
The doors can sense how close they are to other objects and "decide" to raise straight up or spread out like wings
"I think we got a little carried away with the X," Musk said. "If we had known the true engineering costs and complexity, we would have done fewer things."
Tesla Motors is building the SUV currently. Production is "very slow," according to Musk and he wouldn't guess how many SUVs the company could build this year. He said it would take eight to 12 months to fill orders for the vehicle.
The Model X SUV is Tesla's third product. It took two years longer to produce than initially thought, due in part to manufacturing challenges, like constructing doors that lift upward.
The enormous windshield allows the driver to see the sky. The layered glass blocks the sun. As there is no metal until farther up on the roof, the sun visors were attached to side pillars -- another feature that was difficult to engineer.
According to the Wall Street Journal, some Tesla customers have been waiting for over three years for the Model X SUV. They already paid a deposit of $40,000 to be in the "signature" group that receives the vehicles first. These elite customers ordered fully loaded vehicles at a cost of $132,000.
There is a higher-tier version of the Model X, called the "ludicrous" edition, which can accelerate from zero to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds for a retail price of $142,000.
The next model up has a HEPA air filter that Musk said could filter chemicals from a biological weapon.
"Bioweapon defense mode is there, in the HVAC menu," he told the audience on Tuesday.
Musk expects the SUV to be the first ever to score five stars in all crash testing categories. It will achieve a top score on the rollover test, he said, because of the 1,000-pound battery pack's weight at the bottom of the vehicle.
Tesla has not revealed the price of the base model, which will come with a smaller battery pack. The sticker price of the least expensive Model X is estimated to be roughly $5,000 more than the Model S, which has a base price of $75,000.
All Model X vehicles will come standard with all-wheel drive.
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