Okay, so not a sighting but something close. I was in the Bay Area this week and bumped into a Tesla staffer. He indicated he'd recently been getting training on the X, that the design studio was coming very very soon, but that there were 3 last looks they were experimenting with and hadn't decided upon. These must be quite minor at this point I'd think, but it does show the situation would seem to be fluid still. He said no matter which is picked they are all spectacular. BUT...he said they are worried about a negative reaction due to the range of the X being less than what we're used to with the S. That would imply that no magic 100kWh is going to be jumping out of the cake...
That has been my biggest concern. Just seems like the battery technology has not improved enough, not as much as had been hoped/expected a few years ago, and that nothing with aerodynamics could make up for it. In fact, I have the hunch that some of the design changes that many of us are not thrilled with were made to try to do as much as possible to improve the range (via aerodynamics) because of that issue.
Chiming in regarding the topics I've just spent way too much reading debates about:
I agree with JST & others that we are seeing release candidates that will not be drastically different than the final product. A) Elon has indicated a couple of times that the X is on schedule and now ~2 months away. B) In May, he said they had
"hundreds" of release candidates going through final testing rounds. C) Hundreds of release candidates are being hidden away while so many "mules" are on the road? Meh, I don't think so. D) Elon said they wouldn't "show" the Model X before deliveries began. I agree with the person who emphasized that this meant "have an unveiling." There's a difference between "showing" it and testing it in places where it can be spotted with camo. E) NigelM presents some interesting theories about how they could be cheaply producing the body panels, but I just don't see Tesla doing this. They are working their asses off trying to get this out the door "on time" (if we can call it that), get the Gigafactory rolling, get Tesla Energy rolling, get the Model 3 on track... I just don't see them messing around with wildly different decoys to throw people off. F) Some of the cars in recent pics (like ones in San Fran and the one with the wipers hidden) look pretty darn sharp to me. As AnxietyRanger has pointed out, they've gotten better and better. Why would Tesla keep improving on decoy mules like this? I just don't see it. G) Of course, we'll see minor trim, bumper, etc improvements that will make the X look a lot hotter (don't think anyone disagrees with that). H) I voted in the poll and will join the bet if it's still that thing about putting something in our signatures for a month.
As far as "ugly," I think the X looks great so far, one of the best SUVs if not the best on the market (I do like the Cayenne a bit, though). Of course, ugly or beautiful is completely subjective and it irks me when people use these terms about cars as if they are a matter of fact. I do really, really wish that people expressing their opinions about aesthetics would preface them with "I think...." Please. Your opinion on aesthetics is not fact, and you just look ridiculous when you speak like it is.
Looking forward to an awesome X reveal with all kinds of fun interior surprises! And a much better-looking X with the camo off... but not much else different.
We'll see.
