When did Tesla start designing the Model S?

[Brad_SC]

Does anyone remember reading anything about when the Model S was first starting to be designed? (like a news snippet of Elon Musk [or another] saying something like, "well we started drawing this back in year ####, I'm glad to get to finally show it off!" or anything?)

 

[GSP]

Tesla started designing the S very early, when they were a very, very small company.

Check out some of the earliest blogs on Tesla's website. Elon discusses the "master plan," and not much later early Model S work was described. There was a press release about Tesla buying high-end CAD software, one of the best available, for the Model S design work. This was a sign they were serious, and were going to use the latest industry tools and methods in design. Later, Tesla announced the had to put Model S design on hold, due to severe financial pressure. They just did not have enough income.

I would guess the start of Model S design was somewhere around 2008.

GSP

 

[ecarfan]

I have read (sorry, can't quote a specific source from memory) that S design started around 2009, early on during Roadster production.

 

[muleferg]

Tesla Motors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[NEWDL]

March 2009 was the reveal and began reservations. Design obviously began long before then.

Also, remember that fisker "designed" a model s for tesla that was thrown out...

Moreover, Franz started with Tesla in the summer of 2008. He is said to have designed the Model S. I'm sure conceptual things and components were known at that time but yeah...

 

[ArtInCT]

Does anyone remember reading anything about when the Model S was first starting to be designed? (like a news snippet of Elon Musk [or another] saying something like, "well we started drawing this back in year ####, I'm glad to get to finally show it off!" or anything?)

Franz Von Holtzhausen (a fellow CT Yankee) joined Tesla in 2008 so I recon that is about the time that the initial design began.

Here is a link to one of the earliest articles on the design that I have ever run across.... enjoy --> Tesla Model S Designer Franz von Holzhausen Reveals How Perfectionism Drives Design

 

[chriSharek]

Franz Von Holtzhausen (a fellow CT Yankee) joined Tesla in 2008 so I recon that is about the time that the initial design began.

Here is a link to one of the earliest articles on the design that I have ever run across.... enjoy --> Tesla Model S Designer Franz von Holzhausen Reveals How Perfectionism Drives Design

This was a great article! Thanks for sharing!

 

[TEG]

I would guess that Henrik worked on Model S in 2007, and Franz took over in 2008.
How much of Henrik's worked was still kept is hard to say. I don't think Franz got to do a "clean slate" type of design, but rather had some starting points from Henrik and "finished the job that was started."

 

[Canuck]

Notice the charging cap...

 

[stopcrazypp]

Fisker's involvement certainly threw a monkey wrench on the timeline.

From the lawsuit, Fisker was already designing Whitestar in 2007 (before Fisker Automotive was founded). The design contract was signed in February 2007.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/technology/15tesla.html?_r=3&ref=automobiles&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Tesla was looking at a factory already in the same time frame.
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/02/20/will-the-tesla-whitestar-be-a-battery-powered-ford-fusion/

 

[freeewilly]

The final version of MS looks so much better than original.