FredTMC
Model S VIN #4925
Take a look at the Model X tally thread. The numbers speak for themselves IMO.
Actually your numbers/dates are somewhat off. There was an alpha car that was being shipped around the country in July/August 2011. The first rides in beta cars were at an event at Fremont in Oct 2011 and they only started to appear at the stores a couple of months later (with very few stores at that time and no test drives/rides). Production started in June 2012. The "Get Amped" test drive tour started ~1 week after Founders series deliveries in late June 2012.
Thx Nigel for the timeline recap! This history shows that there were rides in beta cars 9 months before production started. Well, we are 9 months from production of Model X. However, I do believe that TM will go from alpha to beta to production vehicles far faster than model s - they've said so... Ramp time is compressed now
I also agree that Tesla has always done reveals (car introductions) at their own events. Tesla had the splashy Model X reveal event on Feb 9th 2012 at Hawthorne (nearly two years ago). I find it hard to fathom that we learn nothing new regarding Tesla's new models next week.
For next week I'm expecting the following:
Model X:
Tesla shows us what the production car looks like. Probably a car on the floor and a description and interviews on its refined features (seats, doors etc). Tesla will say that production is on schedule and test drive events are coming "soon" (in the next few months).
Model 3:
Remember that a long time ago Franz said that they may reveal Model 3 at Detroit. I forget when exactly he said this but I think it was at least 6 months ago. Tesla subsequently retracted that statement through the communications dept. Furthermore, last week Elon said on the reddit Q&A that "Model 3 is like nothing on the road". This indicates they have a specific concept nailed down. It would break precedence for tesla to Reveal the concept but maybe they will given the above evidence. I put probably at less than 30%