I don't think the MS demand caused the MX delay. I think they folded in the 'D' to the MS to fill the gap while they battled w/ MX delays. It also had the benefit of increasing performance and efficiency while also putting real miles on the drivetrain for the MX.
Early on, Elon Musk and JB Straubel repeatedly said that they hoped to manage sales of around 15,000 units per year. Naysayers, Bears, $#0r+s, and general doubters all said they were out of their minds at worst, and smoking crack at best. They insisted that there was
'no way' that a newcomer to the market could sell expensive cars at that rate. They felt it was especially difficult to sell what they called a
'niche product', an electric car, to those many people. That narrative continued through the first half of 2013 for many talking heads and pundits, and the dumbest ones continue saying the same things even now. Even though the Model S has been the US class sales leader in 2013 and 2015, and was in second place during 2014 to the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
Keep in mind that the 15,000 unit number would have been for both the Model S and Model X combined during 2013. Before Model S reached the market, there were about 10,000 Reservations in place. Well, the first deliveries of Model S were made in June 2012. By the end of the year they had Delivered a bit over 2,500 of them. But at the beginning of 2013 there were 13,000 Reservations for Model S. Had there not been substantial demand, the Reservations would have been only 7,500 or so instead. Tesla Motors ended up selling over 18,000 of the Model S in the US, and around 22,000 in all during 2013.
That demand for the Model S cut into their supplies of battery cells from Panasonic, needed to produce Battery Packs at Fremont. Tesla Motors started asking Panasonic to increase their deliveries of Battery Cells around November 2013. They didn't actually hammer out a revised deal until around June/July 2014. Sure, Tesla could have gone ahead and released the Model X in 2013, but that would have pushed off the launch of Model S in Europe so that Bjorn Nyland may not have got his car until mid-2014; would have lead to six month lead times on both cars from the time of order; would have drastically affected Right Hand Drive territories such as Japan, Australia, and Britain; all while Dual Motor All Wheel Drive may not have reached either car until Fall 2015.
Don't worry about the Model ≡. Franz Von Holzhausen has not been sitting on his hands since 2012. If Elon had not put a
'No Concept Cars' policy in place, you would certainly have seen multiple designs by now.
