Is Tesla building their Plaid test cars from CPOs?

[Vinc]

There is a little detail that has been bugging me since Tesla showed the Plaid cars at the Nürburgring: one of the cars seems to have a European plate AND half pealed California HOV decals.

So many questions.

Does Tesla request HOV stickers for its test cars? If so, how long ago was this one built? Getting the stickers takes time. And I assume that it was used for some time with the decals, why getting them otherwise. Plus it also takes time moving the car and getting the European plate. So... has this car been around for six months or more?

Or perhaps the answer is just that Tesla is using off the shelf CPO cars to build these prototypes, and they did not even have time to clean the half pealed decals. This seems to be the simplest answer but... really? I mean... really?

 

[Dithermaster]

If I had to guess, the answer is yes. It's much cheaper to use a trade-in, maybe one that didn't pass CPO inspection (interior issue or something) and give that to the chassis folks than to pull new hardware from production. Why not? It makes perfect sense to me.

 

[JammyP]

It is also possible the bumper came from a wrecked car? I don’t know - but they had time to install the European type 2 plug so they obviously planned on bringing it to Europe for a while...

 

[Chaserr]

It's labeled P100D which isnt even sold any more - "dual motor" now. It's an old prototype they must have been working on for a long time. S has been neglected so it's probably been in the works for years. If they street test them they would want HOV stickers so they arent sitting in traffic as long waiting for someone to notice and take pictures up close.

 

[Saghost]

No one here has actually answers and isn't under an NDA.

My guess is that it's a Roadster drivetrain development mule that they've been driving at the plant and on the California roads for a while (and got HOV stickers for then) that was quickly shipped to Europe when Elon decided to challenge Porsche's ring record.

 

[TIppy]

It's camouflage so you can't tell what the plaid refresh will look like. They saw that porsche had it around the headlights of the taycan, but they don't have the experience of the established car manufacturers when it comes to this stuff. They should have added fake exhaust pipes, too.

 

[trm2]

Don’t know the validity of the report, but I saw it was a 2017 buyback that they stripped out and added the new powertrain to for testing.

 

[Vinc]

Don’t know the validity of the report, but I saw it was a 2017 buyback that they stripped out and added the new powertrain to for testing.

Interesting. That would certainly explain. For sure it is not just a reused bumper cover, you can see the holes for the US sized license plate below the European one.

Funny though if they stripped the entirety of the car but did not spend the extra five minutes properly removing the decal

 

[evster]

The US Plaid car that did the Laguna Seca record run had Alcantara on the dashboard interior and also the old silver trim around the air vents, MCU, etc. The alcantara on the dash got removed early 2017 from production so the dash in that car is for sure from an older car as well as the rest of the shell of the car. We can probably assume that it the same case with these two Plaid cars that visited the ring.

 

[kev1n]

Interesting. That would certainly explain. For sure it is not just a reused bumper cover, you can see the holes for the US sized license plate below the European one.

Funny though if they stripped the entirety of the car but did not spend the extra five minutes properly removing the decal

its a test car, so why waste time on something that doesnt matter such as the visuals

 

[Vinc]

its a test car, so why waste time on something that doesnt matter such as the visuals

Very true, of course a nit picky detail. But they knew this would be widely publicized and pictures would surface. Glad the FUDsters are not running with the message “Tesla cannot even build its own test cars from scratch”.

At least they are not “I stop for squirrels” bumper stickers.

 

[dannycamps]

Would also explain why it had seven seats if it was made before the RFS option disappeared.

 

[Vinc]

Would also explain why it had seven seats if it was made before the RFS option disappeared.

Very good point. It would be quite something if we end up with new rear facing seats just to save face from an overexcited tweet.

 

[kev1n]

Would also explain why it had seven seats if it was made before the RFS option disappeared.

the seats are in there so they can claim 7 seater numbers.otherwise it doesnt make sense for them to strip the car as it would reduce weight to remove them + the beefier rear bumper support.

 

[Dithermaster]

But they knew this would be widely publicized and pictures would surface. Glad the FUDsters are not running with the message “Tesla cannot even build its own test cars from scratch”.

Like a previous poster said, maybe they tested this car in CA before flying it to the 'ring, and they may test it more when it gets back. Those stickers exist for a reason, and as ugly as they are, they all value to a car if they are valid, so ripping them off is silly.

Now that the widebody look is known, I bet we see some pictures of these cars in the future (other than on the 'ring).

 

[Vinc]

The trick is that those stickers are no longer valid. The California decals have two layers to avoid tampering. Somebody tried to remove them and just left the bottom layer, which is much harder to remove. That layer by itself makes them void.

Like a previous poster said, maybe they tested this car in CA before flying it to the 'ring, and they may test it more when it gets back. Those stickers exist for a reason, and as ugly as they are, they all value to a car if they are valid, so ripping them off is silly.

Now that the widebody look is known, I bet we see some pictures of these cars in the future (other than on the 'ring).

 

[Dithermaster]

Somebody tried to remove them and just left the bottom layer, which is much harder to remove. That layer by itself makes them void.

Ah, I didn't know that. I only visit CA but don't live there.

 

[Russell]

The trick is that those stickers are no longer valid. The California decals have two layers to avoid tampering. Somebody tried to remove them and just left the bottom layer, which is much harder to remove. That layer by itself makes them void.

The stickers on the car were most likely white HOV stickers which expired Jan 1, 2019.
Clean Air Vehicle Decals - High Occupancy Vehicle Lane Usage