According to a Fortune reporter, Elon told him there were already 20,000 and 25,000 pre-orders/reservations for the Tesla Model X. However, there’s also been a surge of reservations since the unveiling, and they have reportedly risen to >30,000.
Unfortunately, new orders won’t be delivered until sometime in late 2016 (or later) owing to the backlog, so those late to the party still have quite a lot of time to wait.
Beyond the issue of the current backlog, though, those on the fence about buying a Model X also have to consider the fact that the official unveiling of the Model 3 is coming up, currently being set for early next year. While the two models aren’t quite in the same price range, presumably, there are some who, while interested in the Model X, are probably more interested in the Model 3. Elon tweeted last night that the Model 3 or Model Y (crossover version of the Model 3?) will have falcon-wing doors.
Hmm. Wait for a Model 3 or plop down a deposit for a Model X right now? Surely, that question is on some people’s minds right now?
Regarding that Fortune interview mentioned at the top, here are some other interesting comments made by Musk to the reporter:
“I think we got more carried away with the X,” Musk said about an hour before the event. “I’m not sure anyone should make this car.”
“There’s far more there than is really necessary to sell a car,” Musk added. “Some of these things are so difficult; they do make the car better, but the difficulty of engineering those parts is so high, that in retrospect, if we had known the true engineering costs and the amount of complexity associated with it I think we would have probably done fewer new things.”
Interesting. The extra “gizmos” will probably pay off for the company, though. The presumed target audience for the Model X is, after all, the “tech industry affluent.” Myself, while I won’t be purchasing one, am quite interested to see the first buyer video reviews — it’ll be interesting to see how many of these things work out in actual practice.
Gull-wing doors are NOT new. Mercedes had them in 1948. Perhaps EVObsession should dare to ask Elon Musk some tough questions instead of trumpeting future sales which may of may not materialize.
Question No. 1: If gull-wing (or even “falcon-wing”) doors are such a great idea, why didn’t all car manufacturers adopt them, and why is Tesla going back to the past?
Question No. 2: In a rollover accident how do the rear passengers get out?
This is not an unforeseeable accident. These are entirely predictable fatalities, especially when one promotes cars with “insane mode” sharing the road with all kinds of other trucks and vehicles. Before one can treat an injured person, one has to get to them.
1) Tesla is things that have been around and ignored for ages, and it is doing them much better than almost anyone expected. Complaining about that is odd in my eyes.
2) The X is apparently extremely difficult to roll over, but waiting on NHTSA’s confirmation. And how do you get out of a vehicle’s door when it is on its side? Of course, you find another way out… if lucky. Your point could go to any vehicle.
A regular car, lying on its side, you can still open the other doors both rear and front. When, not if, a Tesla flips, rear passengers would face a difficult crawl into the front of the compartment to (hopefully) get out.
What strikes me as odd is that one should be so dazzled by hype as to complain that someone else should point out a design flaw. The Tesla is a fine car in many respects. Adding “wings” to a fine car doesn’t make it better. It makes it a fine car with inferior, potentially deadly doors tacked on.
The FW doors have obvious benefits. If you’re going to act like they don’t, there’s not even a point in discussing with you. The car is the safest SUV by far… ever. You are cherry picking because you have an agenda. Get over it.
Wow, Zachary! If one person raising one flaw gets you this wound up, who has the agenda? I happen to have enjoyed the two Teslas owned by members of my family & am considering one myself. Surprised? The point of journalism isn’t to be a cheering section for any particular product, but to impart information. How can you do that when you reject your reader’s question out of hand? If there’s an easy way out of that back seat in extreme circumstances, why not put the question to Tesla and get us the answer?
Haha, I don’t think I got wound up. 😀 But working in this field for ~6 years, I’ve learned pretty well who isn’t worth spending time discussing things with. And I was simply pointing out why that “flaw” isn’t a “flaw.” If you take that is me getting wound up or having an agenda, that’s your own assumption.
(And sorry, was busy and just saw this comment.)