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Model S delays?

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UM ... yeah ... right ... OK... whatever :wink: Even if that was true - which I highly suspect that it is not. Nobody really expects a finished product to look exactly like the revealed prototype. Does that mean we are in for MORE changes after it is revealed ? Does anyone think that they will reveal the actual production vehicle ?
 
Either that or it was ready last Winter... but then they changed it. So it was ready in the Spring... and then they changed it. And then it was ready in the Fall...
Well there maybe at least some truth to that. We know the car has gone through a few cycles. As unfortunate as the sources are, that leaked apology letter mentioned "WhiteStar 1.0, 2.0 and Model S" as if they were distinct projects. And the Fisker lawsuit revealed a bit of the time line where Whitestar went from pure electric to EREV (plug-in serial hybrid), and back to pure electric. (I guess Whitestar 2.0 was the hybrid version.) After the Fisker debacle, it seemed like a lot of the design work (on styling anyhow) must have restarted from scratch. With all that, it's no wonder it's taking so long.

Anyhow, I'm patient enough to wait, and I'm glad the Model S is back to pure electric, since that is Tesla's niche.
 
The Model S delay would give an opportunity to tweak and tweak they will. We know the car was in the SpaceX warehouse. Maybe the interior components and fiddly bits are getting the overhaul.

popup_0844_mz_tesla2.jpg

I'm just surprised this car is black.
 
With both the WSJ and Chris Paine saying this thing looks awesome, I think that not showing it at Detroit is a mistake. Call it the Model S concept, generate a buzz in the press and silence the naysayers over the loans and bailouts. This car should be first shown in America in the current financial environment.

It's perfectly normal to make minor changes between show cars and production versions. It seems to me that perfectionism is at work here - I wonder if this is the "disagreement over strategy" that DS mentioned.

"The perfect car, the enemy of the good car."
 
With being uncertain how they plan to get the funds to finance it, it is possible they are trying to keep it under wraps for as long as possible. A long delay between unveiling and production has its own share of problems (as they have discovered with the Roadster).
 
But the flipside might be that demonstrating a (near) complete, desirable product that raises a lot of interest may aid them in securing public or private finance. They've already set expectations of a delay until 2011, this could be a way to reduce that delay.
 
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Looks gray to me.

From the WSJ

I begged Musk to show me WhiteStar. After I promised not to take any pictures, he finally agreed. I threaded between cylinders of rocket frame to reach Tesla’s corner of SpaceX and was shocked: A news photographer was there before me. But not, I realized, to photograph the car. Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla’s chief designer, was taunting him—raising a few inches of White Star’s canvas cover to reveal a nondescript hunk of bumper.
popup_0844_mz_tesla2.jpg

...When the photographer left and von Holzhausen yanked the canvas from the car, all surrounding objects were upstaged by the black machine. It looked strong and a little scary, with a stern grill between its keen headlight eyes.
 
Not sure if this was mentioned (or if that little blurb from WSJ referred to that particular picture), but I'm just curious as to who that guy is in the picture revealing the back end? Is that the designer?

Man, I really want to see this car in it's full glory and get the full details on it. I can't wait until they reveal it.

-Shark2k
 
From Wired: 10 Cool Cars We Want Now | Autopia from Wired.com

Tesla Motors Model S - Yes, Tesla is laying off employees and cutting expenses and its plans for the Model S aren't going anywhere without $350 million from Uncle Sam. But that doesn't make the idea of a $58,000 all-electric sedan any less seductive, even if the company ought to be focusing its attention on ramping up production of the Roadster.