Mysterious Tesla Prototype spotted in China (Model Q / Compact?)

There have been new sightings of the mysterious prototype that was believed to be fake at first glance.

What looks like a compact Tesla is hiding under a camouflage wrap to hide its shape and final looks.

But what is it? It seems to be a modified Mazda CX-30 that has a Tesla front bumper, Tesla headlights, wheels, autopilot cameras and rear lights professionally installed.

Who is responsible for this? Could it be Tesla themselves testing the efficiency of their powertrains in a new vehicle size segment? Why make it so obvious instead of just swapping the powertrain? And who besides Tesla would do this?

What are your thoughts about this truly mysterious vehicle...?

Image Credits: Unknown / Found on Twitter

 

[CYBRTRK420]

Here is another comparison of the disguised prototype VS a stock Mazda CX-30

 

[replicant]

Why play the game of unknown photoshopers? Enough viral advertising already, don't feed the marketing trolls.

 

[CYBRTRK420]

Why play the game of unknown photoshopers?

I'd like to believe it is photoshopped, I thought so too when I saw just one pic. Take a look at thew new angles and compare every little line on the Camo wrap. It's identical. if this actually is photoshopped, it is incredibly well done.

 

[smogne41]

Wheel well cladding in the rear but not the front? That would be a hilarious choice if it were real.

 

[CYBRTRK420]

Wheel well cladding in the rear but not the front? That would be a hilarious choice if it were real.

I agree. Front fenders appear to be Tesla parts tho, look at the lines. So that would explain it.

 

[Bikeman]

Lines look a perfect match to the Mazda. Here's a question: How close is Mazda from being a takeover target or wanting to be bought?

Unrelated: I caught part of a livestream of a Volkswagon/Tesla event a few nights ago, very early in the morning, and I only watched a little portion of it and didn't really catch what was going on. Something about a collaboration?

 

[CaliCowboy]

Looks interesting

 

[smogne41]

Honestly a colab between Mazda and Tesla would be interesting. I personally like some modern Mazda styling, and they have some great paint colors. An MX5 with Mazda handling/design and a Tesla drive-train+supercharging? Hell yeah. Shut up and take my money.

 

[Watts_Up]

Honestly a colab between Mazda and Tesla would be interesting.

Especially since ...

Von Holzhausen leaves Mazda to become Design Director at Tesla Motors

According to a recent report by Car Design News, Tesla Motors has managed to lure Franz von Holzhausen, director of design at Mazda's R&D Design Center in Irvine, California, away from the Japanese automaker to become its own design director at the budding electric car company.

www.motortrend.com

 

[voyager]

It will be interesting to see if a Tesla HB will be as energy-efficient as the low-drag Model 3... I think not.

Model 3 achieves record low energy consumption in driving efficiency test

Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus can achieve a market-leading 11.9kWh per 100km energy consumption, new testing shows.

thedriven.io

 

[Watts_Up]

It will be interesting to see if a Tesla HB will be as energy-efficient as the low-drag Model 3... I think not.

I guess, it would depend on the weight but mostly from the Cd (Coefficient of Drag).

I imagine that the future Tesla Hathback will be shorter but will have to be taller than the Model 3 to provide enough rear passengers headroom.
Here is a comparison between the Nissan Leaf, the Mazda CX 30, and the Model 3, which are 97 mm or 3.8 inch taller.

To provide another comparison, the Model 3 is as tall as the Model S, but the Model Y is 18 cm or 7 inches taller.

Here is a list of Cd (Coefficient of Drag) for the above vehicles:
While the Model Y is taller than the Model 3, both have the same reported Cd.

​

Tesla Model S	0.208
Tesla Model 3	0.23
Tesla Model Y	0.23
Nissan Leaf	0.28
Mazda CX 30	0.31

​

So I guess, the Cd of the future Tesla Hathback might be very simillar to the Model 3.

 

[DownshiftDre]

Interesting. Definitely not photoshop.

Usually a first time time spotting would have way more camo and go in and out of a hangar/garage so public wouldnt see. Even the rumor Project Highland Model 3 with bumper cameras had more coverings than this. Zoom Zoom.

Only 4 pics? And no interior? Makes me think this is still an ICE car and its just some speed shop having fun with converting a Mazda with Tesla cosmetics. Full Tesla Front Clip and Double Taped Tesla taillights in rear. Zoom Zoom.

Love the fuel port and charge port next to each other….this must be the range extender version in case Supercharger is full. Zoom Zoom.

 

[Bikeman]

Project Highland might not be a car. Perhaps a new direction in manufacturing methods. I viewed a very long and quite convincing YouTube episode where it was linking 100 years ago with Ford and their own Project Highland.

 

[Evpowerdan]

I don’t speculate - let all the YouTubers use the “click bait titles” to just hear their opinion. I’ll just wait for the Tesla investors day next week for real information. Hopefully the cyber truck will be in production soon, but that price is going to be nowhere near the original estimated $40k.

What we all know, is that smaller EV vehicles will be key to driving adoption, for price point and range. Won’t even get into the debate of the charging infrastructure of CCS, as that’s a complete mess. Tesla May beat VW to that segment, as the ID3 would be a good mass seller - but they noted they are not bring it to the USA and they have lots of EV growing pains to work through.

 

[MichaelP90DL]

It is possible Tesla did some kind of deal with Mazda. I guess we'll find out shortly.

 

[rocketship324]

I don't think this is photoshopped, you'd be able to see some kind of compression. The car looks pretty consistent throughout all the pics.

 

[smogne41]

Current Mazda market cap looks to be ~$5.6B USD. Might actually make a good acquisition. They are strong at design, style, driving dynamics etc while building to a lower price point, but just getting started at electrification. As long as Tesla did not steam roll over the good stuff and put in bad stuff (nonsense like yokes and too many controls on the touch screens), it could be a good partnership that would serve several different market segments that Tesla has not touched yet. The biggest wrinkle is it would take Mazda several years to wind down gas engine use, at least if they wanted stay profitable. All speculation obviously, some sort of limited collaboration makes a whole lot more sense (assuming this thing is even a manufacturer test mule/prototype and not just some custom shop one-off).

 

[Watts_Up]

Current Mazda market cap looks to be ~$5.6B USD. Might actually make a good acquisition.

The future Tesla hatchback to get low manufacturing cost will certainly use body casting.

I believe only Tesla factorires have such Idra multimillion-dollar Giga Press,

But it seems that some other Asian car manufacturers are in the process for getting such press.

I doubt that Mazda is one of the 'other' manufacturer.

Casting Machines Coming To 6 More Chinese Car Makers - CleanTechnica

From casting toy cars to casting Teslas -- the story of Liu Siong Song.

cleantechnica.com

 

[locksmack]

Current Mazda market cap looks to be ~$5.6B USD. Might actually make a good acquisition. They are strong at design, style, driving dynamics etc while building to a lower price point, but just getting started at electrification. As long as Tesla did not steam roll over the good stuff and put in bad stuff (nonsense like yokes and too many controls on the touch screens), it could be a good partnership that would serve several different market segments that Tesla has not touched yet. The biggest wrinkle is it would take Mazda several years to wind down gas engine use, at least if they wanted stay profitable. All speculation obviously, some sort of limited collaboration makes a whole lot more sense (assuming this thing is even a manufacturer test mule/prototype and not just some custom shop one-off).

I'd put Mazda at the forefront of ICE vehicles. As you said, design, driving dynamics are top notch, but their ICE engineering is also extremely advanced (too much actually as they should have pivoted to electric years ago). A Tesla/Mazda partnership would be incredible.