ZachShahan
Active Member
First of all, I think it's important to acknowledge that some people who really wanted to get an electric SUV from Tesla but found that this doesn't fit their needs are seriously bummed out, and understandably so. That sucks. And I would not be particularly joyful if that fit my story... and if I had parted with $40,000 for a few years or made important decisions based on expected features that changed toward the end of that time period.
But I agree that the production X is much better than the concept X to my eyes, and obviously many others'. In fact, I've never been into SUVs but actually feel compelled to consider the X (if only the wait weren't so long!), which I did not expect at all until recently. But that probably gets back to the point: this is not a conventional SUV.
And those last few words are super key, imho. Tesla, as someone noted, is a bit like a teenager (or perhaps 20-something engineer into new tech, sci-fi, and exciting stuff like wing walking). It is super idealistic, optimistic, and sometimes unrealistic. That allows it to accomplish amazing things that many "adults" would not consider. After a hugely successful Model S, how to do better? Surely, not by falling in line and offering a slightly better and faster electric SUV than others on the market. It (okay, we can say his name: Elon) wanted to "wow" again, and take the premium SUV market by storm. I think Tesla/Elon is about to do so. As others have noted extensively enough, some people care about having a ton of cargo space, but many (most?) aren't super picky about that, and the X will over-deliver for them in that category. They are looking for a cool and useful (for transporting humans) CUV, which is what this really seems to be. Meanwhile, the X:
*is the safest SUV/CUV on the planet (including having a fun and somewhat amazing bioweapons defense filter)
*is the quickest SUV/CUV on the planet
*is probably the quietest SUV/CUV on the planet
*has ridiculously awesome and useful falcon-wing doors (again, useful if your concern is the people in the back seat, not large pieces of cargo) and automatically opening driver-seat doors
*has really nice 2nd- and 3rd-row seats where passengers can stick their stuff under the seat instead of in the spot for their feet.
*has a wicked panoramic windshield that is like to "wow" as much as "Ludicrous mode"
*fights global warming, air pollution, and oil wars.
That's a freakin' grand slam+ in my book (or an insane Germany vs Brazil result for those of us who couldn't care less about baseball but love the beautiful game).
Tesla would not be here if the founders were interested in incremental improvements and doing things the way they've typically been done but with a few tweaks. Tesla is here (and successful) because it blasts through conventional wisdom and offers products that are both awesome and unique. Yes, it would be nice if Tesla learned to communicate a bit better. Yes, it would be cool if the X satisfied the desires of every SUV buyer on the planet. But I think we need to be as realistic with our expectations of Tesla as we expect it to be with other things.
Again, it really, really sucks to see some of you feeling you need to cancel, and doing so, and I hope it won't be long before Tesla has an SUV for you. I was shocked to see some of you making this decision, but we each have individual needs and base requirements, and you have been pretty clear why the X doesn't work for you.
But trying to come to a broader take on how the X turned out (as you can see, I'm long TSLA and I'm a huge EV enthusiast who wants to see this market grow exponentially), I'm quite happy. I'm a bit nervous based on the discussion here that a number of buyers will be turned off by the lack of large-item utility, but I think Tesla is likely to have more demand for the X than it can supply for a long time. This vehicle is simply amazing, and so much better than anything else on the market in so many ways.
I think one last thing should also be acknowledged, though: in many cases, the top competitor to the X is the Model S. I think we are seeing more disappointment and negativity here because the S beats the X in some ways *and* has many of the amazing benefits that the rest of the market lack, and we largely have Model S owners and lovers on this forum. This forum is not representative of the broader population, of course. Many (most?) people still don't know anything about the Model S. There are fewer things that distinguish the X from the S (and also the S from the X) than distinguish both of these vehicles from the rest of the options on the market. I think plenty of buyers looking for a great SUV/CUV are going to be hugely attracted to this.
Hope my 10 cents helps some of you in some way. But yeah, not much anyone can do to help disappointed would-be owners right now.
But I agree that the production X is much better than the concept X to my eyes, and obviously many others'. In fact, I've never been into SUVs but actually feel compelled to consider the X (if only the wait weren't so long!), which I did not expect at all until recently. But that probably gets back to the point: this is not a conventional SUV.
And those last few words are super key, imho. Tesla, as someone noted, is a bit like a teenager (or perhaps 20-something engineer into new tech, sci-fi, and exciting stuff like wing walking). It is super idealistic, optimistic, and sometimes unrealistic. That allows it to accomplish amazing things that many "adults" would not consider. After a hugely successful Model S, how to do better? Surely, not by falling in line and offering a slightly better and faster electric SUV than others on the market. It (okay, we can say his name: Elon) wanted to "wow" again, and take the premium SUV market by storm. I think Tesla/Elon is about to do so. As others have noted extensively enough, some people care about having a ton of cargo space, but many (most?) aren't super picky about that, and the X will over-deliver for them in that category. They are looking for a cool and useful (for transporting humans) CUV, which is what this really seems to be. Meanwhile, the X:
*is the safest SUV/CUV on the planet (including having a fun and somewhat amazing bioweapons defense filter)
*is the quickest SUV/CUV on the planet
*is probably the quietest SUV/CUV on the planet
*has ridiculously awesome and useful falcon-wing doors (again, useful if your concern is the people in the back seat, not large pieces of cargo) and automatically opening driver-seat doors
*has really nice 2nd- and 3rd-row seats where passengers can stick their stuff under the seat instead of in the spot for their feet.
*has a wicked panoramic windshield that is like to "wow" as much as "Ludicrous mode"
*fights global warming, air pollution, and oil wars.
That's a freakin' grand slam+ in my book (or an insane Germany vs Brazil result for those of us who couldn't care less about baseball but love the beautiful game).
Tesla would not be here if the founders were interested in incremental improvements and doing things the way they've typically been done but with a few tweaks. Tesla is here (and successful) because it blasts through conventional wisdom and offers products that are both awesome and unique. Yes, it would be nice if Tesla learned to communicate a bit better. Yes, it would be cool if the X satisfied the desires of every SUV buyer on the planet. But I think we need to be as realistic with our expectations of Tesla as we expect it to be with other things.
Again, it really, really sucks to see some of you feeling you need to cancel, and doing so, and I hope it won't be long before Tesla has an SUV for you. I was shocked to see some of you making this decision, but we each have individual needs and base requirements, and you have been pretty clear why the X doesn't work for you.
But trying to come to a broader take on how the X turned out (as you can see, I'm long TSLA and I'm a huge EV enthusiast who wants to see this market grow exponentially), I'm quite happy. I'm a bit nervous based on the discussion here that a number of buyers will be turned off by the lack of large-item utility, but I think Tesla is likely to have more demand for the X than it can supply for a long time. This vehicle is simply amazing, and so much better than anything else on the market in so many ways.
I think one last thing should also be acknowledged, though: in many cases, the top competitor to the X is the Model S. I think we are seeing more disappointment and negativity here because the S beats the X in some ways *and* has many of the amazing benefits that the rest of the market lack, and we largely have Model S owners and lovers on this forum. This forum is not representative of the broader population, of course. Many (most?) people still don't know anything about the Model S. There are fewer things that distinguish the X from the S (and also the S from the X) than distinguish both of these vehicles from the rest of the options on the market. I think plenty of buyers looking for a great SUV/CUV are going to be hugely attracted to this.
Hope my 10 cents helps some of you in some way. But yeah, not much anyone can do to help disappointed would-be owners right now.
Last edited:
