-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Or, it might have a temporary bolt-on mirror on top of the camera stalk, that can be removed when the law gets changed. That's what I'm hoping for...
Muskol
Member
Thanks for the find LakeForest and others for linking.
Post states photo was taken at the entrance to the inactive airfield at NAS Alameda.
Post states photo was taken at the entrance to the inactive airfield at NAS Alameda.
Nubo
Test Mule
Or simply there as disguise. If you're going to camo the car, you'd certainly disguise one of the key speculative components.
chickensevil
Active Member
Or simply there as disguise. If you're going to camo the car, you'd certainly disguise one of the key speculative components.
Which is why the focus on the disguise is also on the doors and such too, so people can't really tell what changes they have made to the doors from the prototype since that was also supposed to be decently different per comments from Elon. All we are able to really tell from the photo is that it is the Model X. Since this is about a Test Mule, I don't know why we would expect anything less than trying to hide what they are testing!
At least we have fully progressed beyond them throwing weights on top of the Model S!
gjunky
Trifecta: Solar and both cars are EVs
That rear door looks awfully short for providing access to two rows. It seems to have smaller wheels than the Model S in the background. This overall looks like a smaller car.
The only thing I can say with certainty, based on that photo, is that the windows are operable.
Krugerrand
Meow
chickensevil
Active Member
If you read the post from instagram:
"I saw this one being pulled into the trailer at #AlamedaNAS at an entrance to the closed airfield. The truck pulling it was a Tesla vehicle. After it was closed up I asked if I could be nosey hoping to find out what the car was but I got a quick "not on this one." As if this is far different from normal for them."
So no, not likely to be the old prototype. Elon or someone else at Tesla recently said at another autoshow type event that after the Texas showing they wouldn't be showing the old prototype anymore because it doesn't accurately represent the final product anymore. Also why in the world would they take the prototype to an airstrip for some kind of testing when they have multiple alphas/betas that they could be using for exactly that purpose.
Also, using the crude powers of MS Paint, I have outlined the key features on the rear door, this shows the exact same side pattern we had previously seen for the Model X where the door goes over top of the rear wheel. If this was some kind of Model 3 prototype then either they are making it EXACTLY like the Model X (which would be a huge departure from their previous comments) or they made a really weird rear door design for a door that would open normally in a sedan.
They have also given hints during recent previous Model 3 directed questions that they aren't even close to coming up with a buildable prototype since they haven't even agreed on the general look of the car. It could still either look similar to the MS and MX in overall design goals, just smaller... or it could look like nothing that is on the road... and they are leaning heavily toward the "like nothing that is on the road"... that car in the photo... that looks like an SUV... so... yeah... Gonna definitively state, not a Model 3.
PS: The red line I put in the photo is the door handle, in case you couldn't catch that in the photo. Giving the same door handle design we have previously seen on the X as well.
PPS: Just as an image comparison:
Although from the other side... you can see the same singular door handle look as well as the door going to about halfway on top of the wheel.
Last edit... promise! You can see from this photo (which I believe was one of the last times the old prototype made a public appearance) that the doors line up pretty close. Hard to really tell much of a difference between the two photos... maybe a bit of a change to the rear/trunk?
Last edited:
chickensevil
Active Member
Sorry, the extra bits defending it being a Model X (as opposed to something else) was not actually directed at you. It was toward the others who were thinking this might be something else (like the Model 3).
anticitizen13.7
Not posting at TMC after 9/17/2018
I believe that chickensevil is almost certainly correct that this isn't a Model X we have seen.
This is my reasoning:
The prototype that Tesla has been showing is about 3 years old this year. There would be no point in applying that much camouflage to a prototype that's already been revealed. The prototype was not as far as I know capable of driving very fast (I believe it could only move under 10 MPH). There would be no point in road testing it. It probably does not have the suspension or powertrain (remember that dual motor is fairly recent... did not exist at all in 2012 when the prototype was unveiled) even close to the production car.
I am therefore 99% certain that what is pictured is an X Beta.
chickensevil
Active Member
I agree with most, but I would point out that at least the original prototype (the greyish looking one with the cameras) was able to perform properly with 2 motors since it was actually used for test rides after the reveal event. It certainly had 2 motors in it, and they showed the then 0-60 jumps to passengers. That being said, I am certain that the current implementation of AWD is MUCH better than anything they had in 2012.
anticitizen13.7
Not posting at TMC after 9/17/2018
I didn't know that the gray one had 2 motors and could sprint 0-60.
I was thinking of the white prototype that's been carted around to different exhibits. Someone here has mentioned in another thread that it could only move slowly.
I was thinking of the white prototype that's been carted around to different exhibits. Someone here has mentioned in another thread that it could only move slowly.
fengshui
Member
Thank you! Lots of camouflage on the front end, I really couldn't get much of a sense of the look there. The rest of the car looks pretty good, although I agree with the other poster that the rear end does look shorter than on the prototype.
Similar threads
