Tesla Motors CEO and Product Architect Elon Musk has stated that the second-row seats in the Model X would be “the nicest second-row seat you’ve seen in any car ever” and are a thing of “sculptural beauty.” What exactly that means has been very much up in the air and a point of wild speculation.
So, when Model X configuration went live for Signature reservation holders yesterday, people primarily skipped over the amazing but expected acceleration of the Model X P90D (0–60 mph in 3.8 seconds, or in 3.2 seconds with Ludicrous mode) and dove into the seats and speculation regarding how they worked (based on computer renderings that may or may not leave out important details).
I’d say the majority of posters on the Tesla Motors Club forum considered the following movement to be most likely (when making room for cargo):
(Thanks to Gustavo Bittencourt for the animation.)
But others have contended that’s not feasible/possible and propose this as the most likely possibility:
I’ll leave it to you to decide which you think is most likely, or if you think something else is more probable.
I’ll just note one or two more things that might not be instantly obvious. The mechanical control on the second-row seats is one piece, while it’s two pieces on the front seat. That implies that the second-row seats can’t simply fold down. However, these are theoretically the premium seats, and we have no idea how similar the normal seats would be.
Anyway, that’s the bulk of the story for now. The white leather option, by the way, is apparently high-quality synthetic leather. For the other seat color options, see: Tesla Model X Design Studio Images & Specs Leaked.