I don't see how you can ignore the drivetrain. You'd never present someone with a 5 series BMW and so 'oh, and it has a state of the art 140hp inline 4 cylinder engine'. Sure, compare the luxury features but no one car can have everything.
Well, that *too* comes down to perspective.
Regional perspective in this case.
BMW makes big hay about its state of the art in-line 4 diesel for the 5 Series in Europe getting under 120 g/km CO2 (or somesuch number), which is important for company car policies (and taxes) in Europe.
The engine has 150 horsepower.
- - - Updated - - -
The actual reason why the Model-S was lacking high-end luxury features is because Tesla is a new company and its going to take them time to implement each and every one of these luxury features. Over time, they'll eventually catch up and will likely surpass everyone else. It's very similar to the very first iPhone that didn't even have cut&paste or the ability to send MMS messages. It just took time for Apple to get around to adding these features and getting it right in the process. Tesla wouldn't be around today if they waited until they had every single luxury item in the very first car they sold.
Agreed. This is the reason. And nothing stops Tesla from upping to price for those extra features by making them optional, so hopefully eventually they will catch up - and that eventually hopefully is at Model X launch for most part, because I'm not sure ordering a Model X that's basically P85D Auto-pilot with Falcon Wings and a plusher second row is very enticing... What most us want is the possibility to get somewhat of a feature equivalency, not necessarily arguing for price equivalency (even though you make some nice points about the actual cost too).
Personally, I don't need the Model X to have everything my past Germans have had, but considering I already have the Classic Model S where I made significant concessions to jump on board of EV thing, features-wise, I am hoping for significant advances still compared to the current Model S - making those concessions for a second time does not sound so inviting.
- - - Updated - - -
First and foremost you are paying for an EV drive-train, and to a lesser extent exclusivity (whether this is important to you or not). Expecting to pay the same amount as similarly equipped luxury ICE vehicles doesn't seem practical.
I don't think people are arguing for price equivalency, but that vehicles in a certain class (I understand Model S tries to compete with at least the 5 Series of this world, if not 7 Series) can be expected to have certain features. Make them priced optional extras, if you must, I doubt that is an issue for many - for example myself in Europe have gotten used to paying through my teeth for the options list where everything basically is optional.
Reading Gwgan's comment, it actually wasn't
that long ago when electric rear windows and air-conditioning were extra cost options in some German premiums (granted, not on the 7 Series level).
It is a matter of years, not decades. I know the U.S. market is different and insulated from these realities, though.
- - - Updated - - -
The drivetrain is the reason I reserved the X and the reason that I almost did not. With it's benefits also come some negatives. In the end, I believed the balance tipped more towards the benefits.
However, that equation is not the same for all customers and certainly not for all markets. China is probably an example of a market where the Model S is lacking compared to other luxury autos and the drivetrain is viewed as a negative rather than a positive. Thus the poor sales performance. I expect Tesla has learned from that experience and is one reason why the 2nd row seating is such a priority in the X development.
China is a good question. But equally any very densely populated urban area consisting mostly of apartment buildings and parking on the street or in various public or private garages of many kinds.
A lot of the people on this forum come from places where they live in separate houses of their own, most probably even have garages, but at least some fairly accessible and rudimentary way of charging nightly - even if it means taking the extension cord from the bathroom to the car on their driveway. Even 240V or somesuch will be enough, if you commute relatively short distances - you don't even have to plug-in every night. And of course when you own your house, your chances of being able to install faster chargers are high. People with their own yard and house have many options when it comes to EVs, if they come back to that house every night.
But all this changes when you talk of apartment buildings, let alone the kind, type and density they have in Asia. Your house may not have a dedicated parking garage - or if you do, it might even be a robot that stacks cars on top of each other, or some other location where installations are not easy or practical, for example you may not have a dedicated spot. You may have to park in some pay-per-month garage some blocks from your home where you can't hope to install anything anyway. Some who live in apartments, park on the street wherever they can find a free place that night.
Now, in addition to that, China of course has some very unique requirements when it comes to cars. They prefer extended-wheelbase cars with rear amenities so much that German premiums like Audi and BMW actually make unique "L" versions of even smaller premiums for China, with special executive rear seat options, because so many Chinese - even those who buy a smaller premium car - are chauffeured. This is of course why there is the executive back seat option for Model S, but it is still quite a small convenience compared to the stretched, rear-seat entertained, seat-ventilated, massaged options of the Germans.
- - - Updated - - -
I will add to my expectations that it will NOT feature DRIVE PX, primarily because the system is far too new to throw into a production vehicle. I know Tesla likes to take the hardware first, software later approach, but with DRIVE PX just being made available to manufacturers this month, it's far too late in Model X development to add it to the initial production version. They have to have locked in the electronics configuration long ago.
While it is possible DRIVE PX won't make it to the first Model X vehicles - and might come, say a year later, if it is coming at all - I'm not sure your reasoning would necessarily be correct, though.
If Tesla is a key nVidia partner, it doesn't seem far-fetched the DRIVE PX might even have been developed hand in hand with the Model X and Tesla might have priority access. It might even be one reason for Model X's delayed launch schedule (once they decided not to launch it with D and Auto-pilot last year). Even the launch timing seems so suspicious, how much of a chance it is that Elon Musk was *at* the DRIVE PX launch discussing Model X and the final DRIVE PX is being released to manufacturers the same exact time Tesla is saying having started to build release-candidates of Model X... If DRIVE PX was developed alongside the Model X, and it is now ready for others too, having it ready for manufacturing come late Q3 sounds perfectly possible.
Of course, all this assumes Tesla collaborated on the DRIVE PX and had priority access - and are not just now ordering samples from nVidia. Tesla may not even be the only car maker to have had beta-access to DRIVE PX. Beta Model X's may have been built with beta DRIVE PX's and now that DRIVE PX is done, Tesla is building release candidates around it.
Then again, the latest conference call suggested not to expect too much of a difference between first Model X and current Model S, if I read correctly somewhere. Was this just said to not Osbourne the Model X or because the first Model X's will miss out on "Auto-pilot 2", it is hard to say.