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Vented seats gone, alcantara dash gone, air suspension gone = new S interior coming

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He just tweeted no plans to shift to 2170 batteries on the s or x
What if 2170's are only cheaper, and in many ways score less until a big chemistry update? At 100kWh, the pack may not durably offer the amps to keep up with the current 100kWh cars. Would be hard to explain a performance drop with new cells which are cheaper to make but don't come at a great discount.
 
He just tweeted no plans to shift to 2170 batteries on the s or x

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I work for a large enterprise that is full of product managers and layer upon layer of product and design teams (+200k employees). My personal take is that Elon Musk originally intended for the Model 3 to have some type of advanced HUD or "next generation" display that was indeed "spaceship like" and would knock our socks off. This was very clear in his opening round of tweets. He had clearly seen an interior experience ( UI/ UX / CX) along with an interior design aesthetic that had to have been better than today's best "S-class" Mercedes interiors (which are pretty amazing at night)...

However, after his tweets and comments, it appears to me that the product managers and various product owners pulled him back in and told him the Model S/X must always be their luxury brand and got him to buy into the typical auto product line / mentality. What I believe is that the original "spaceship" model 3 interior / HUD will be put on the Model S / X - my guess is that this would occur the same night as the Model 3 final unveil. I think they will show two tricks up their sleeve.

I believe they will show their $35k model 3 as promised.... and amazing changes to the Model S/X that were originally mentioned by Musk last year. In the end, I sense that Musk realized he can't cannibalize their $100K+ product lines.

Plus, he knows there is a significant % of Model 3 reservations holders who will just upgrade to a Model S / X if it has the new spaceship interior. Those assembly lines are up and running. So moving the spaceship like interior (and or HUD) to the Model S / X helps him in multiple ways. Its a higher margin, the S/X lines are running at higher scale, this removes some of the strain and backlog of M3 reservation holders, it further establishes his brand - particularly in other European and Asian markets... etc....

After the spaceship interior / HUD reveal, I would suspect Tesla to lock up plans for at least 2 Gigafactories outside of the USA to better handle global mfg & distribution. Having the spaceship like interior on their highest end product just makes it that much easier to attain funding. The stock will blow thru the roof, capital and debt markets will open their pocket books and the cycle keeps going.

Tesla has hired some of the best interior design talent out there. Do not underestimate what designers can do when given free rein to blow your socks off. I suspect they havd something special for the M3 but moved it over to the S / X for a plethora of reasons - including the need to avoid a repeat of the headaches of getting the Model X out the door.
You just missed the part where Elon said that AP2 was what we was referring to with the "feels like a spaceship" comment.
 
Model S still looks great to me... it is aging very well - likely due in large part to the large screen and OTA updates.

That said, I recall that most automobiles follow a mid-model refresh around 4 years in and new body style at about 7 years. Given Model S was first sold in 2012 and refresh was 2016... maybe we will see a next-gen Model S in 2018? Seems like good timing (also in line with the hiring of the Volvo interior exec).
 
I expect a major interior refresh within a year (quite possibly less). The exterior refresh has already happened so it's only logical that the interior get the same treatment.
I disagree... typically you get a mid-cycle refresh but retain most of the integral components then you get an "all-new" vehicle at the end of the current cycle. Although the exterior still looks current I would expect Tesla to drop an all-new (next-gen) Model S on us in the next 1-3 years.
 
I disagree... typically you get a mid-cycle refresh but retain most of the integral components then you get an "all-new" vehicle at the end of the current cycle. Although the exterior still looks current I would expect Tesla to drop an all-new (next-gen) Model S on us in the next 1-3 years.
Even though Tesla is not a typical manufacturer, most high end sedans have an 8 to 10 year product cycle. That would put the Model S right in the middle of it's current cycle. I can foresee another possible minor exterior refresh and a complete overhaul of the interior before a completely new car comes out.
 
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Now hat they are becoming a bigger manufacturer and more specifically, working toward making half a million Model 3's each year, I can't see how the S/X (capacity around 100,000) can be kept so slow and costly. It's got the same amount of seats, windows, wheels, steering wheels, etc, etc. Just a car. As they are developing Model Y to be much simpler to make still vs Model 3, it seems like a no-brainer to re-do S and X. S first. With so many being sold, why keep so much money on the table, or with price drop, the potential to increase sales significantly?
 
Simplification of the Model S may be to speed assembly and lower costs. With Model 3 competition, perhaps pricing needs to be competitive.

I look forward to a new generation of rapid Supercharging. A 5 to 10 minute wait for 300 miles of range would revolutionize the BEV drive cross country.

With full autonomy, vehicle interiors can change dramatically. Dramatic design change is what I would expect to see in the next few years.

Tricky business of designing the interior of autonomous vehicles
 
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  • Ventilated seats bye bye (I've got 'em - they work - they don't rip if you are reasonably careful)
  • Alcantara dash bye-bye
  • No more air suspension without the largest battery (I got both coils and air -> air's ride smoothness speaks "luxury")
Thoughts?

These three measures are needed minimize number of parts ahead of Model 3 production IMHO. Dash and seats obvious.
Suspension: only one version of steel springs now needed since it is for the light car. (75) Only one type of air spring needed for the heavy car only.
 
I have a 2012 P85 S and the wife has a 2016 P90DL X. The blind spot monitors alone are so bad that I'll wait for those to be improved, if nothing else.

I actually purchased a MS from inventory in order to 1) get the free supercharging and 2) get the ventilated seats. While I was going back and forth with my owner advisor, all the free supercharging changes happened. But I still locked in on the inventory vehicle because of the seats. And I love the Alcantara.

But I agree that the blind spot monitoring is pretty bad. I suspect something can be done with software considering that I have HW2, and I don't think all the cameras are being used yet. With today's announcement about Chris Lattiner, maybe we'll see things pick up in terms of improvements to the current virtual "instrument cluster" considering I don't have an issue with any of the other interior appointments (which I admit seems strange that my favorite parts have disappeared).