Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Model X width

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Today I wrote to Tesla Motors:


I understand you are designing the final prototype of the Model X.

Please consider the size of the Autobahn in Germany. We have a lot of work done on the Autobahns. In areas where there are workers present, there are only two lanes. The right lane is used mainly by trucks going very slowly. The left lane is oftentimes limited to cars of less than 200 cm in total width (including mirrors), sometimes they give us 210 cm.

With my model S I need to always use the right lane during road work. I am forced to drive slowly between bis trucks, an intimidating situation.

So if possible, don't make the Model X 201 cm or 211 cm wide. Make it 200 cm or less or 210 cm or less.

Thank you from Germany and Europe (just talk to our Italien friends).

Johann Koeber
 
It would be if they are allowed to use cameras in place of side mirrors. Then the Model S which the Model X will be based on would come in at 196.342 cm. It's entirely possible that even if this feature is not allowed in the US it could be made available to other countries. Elon and JB have implied many times that this feature is already complete and ready for prime time.
 
I think MX will be based on the same battery pack length/width size, platform as the MS, so this will lead to approximatly the same width, maybe a little less length (less overhead on the front/rear axle if people want to go "up and down the hills in the outback"... ;-)

Tesla is also building on the proven platform of MS, the same as Audi/Porsche does with its Q5/Macan, both share the same "ground structure".

But as far I can see, the class MS plays in is the same as Mercedes S Class and the with of the german car is also over 2 meters (2071 mm) with mirrors.
Mercedes-Benz Deutschland - Technische Daten - Abmessungen

I personally would love to have a smaller MX because of my garage, but I guess that will not happen, maybe with M3.
 
Without going too far off course discussing side cameras... I've had to reboot my system far too often in the last couple of weeks for me to feel comfortable relying on cameras. Just this morning I had to do a reboot of the main screen, which for some reason took down the dash screen, and I finished the trip to work in LCD darkness.

They finally rebooted when I got into the parking lot. I was able to continue driving, but imagine if I relied on the screens for lane changes.
 
Without going too far off course discussing side cameras... I've had to reboot my system far too often in the last couple of weeks for me to feel comfortable relying on cameras. Just this morning I had to do a reboot of the main screen, which for some reason took down the dash screen, and I finished the trip to work in LCD darkness.

They finally rebooted when I got into the parking lot. I was able to continue driving, but imagine if I relied on the screens for lane changes.

It's not too scary. You can still look around. People get their mirrors damaged all the time. It's not normally seen as cause for a tow.
 
It's not too scary. You can still look around. People get their mirrors damaged all the time. It's not normally seen as cause for a tow.

That's great to hear as I don't have AAA and Tesla only tows to SCs...

...Seriously, I didn't say it would render the car undriveable, just less so. Sure, you can compensate with more over the shoulder glances all the time, and if I lost my rearview mirror I could glance back then too... Would I want to? Would I feel particularly safe doing so?
 
I see these as separate issues. First you should never get a system failure in a car while your driving. Tesla needs to be more careful about the software updates they are putting out. I get the feeling if the car's system never went down you wouldn't have any issues with converting the side and back mirrors to cameras. After all there is conceivably much more you could do with such a system. In theory it should provide an even safer driving experience.
 
Delete this thread?

Though the majority of posts are about side mirrors, please read the OP before posting again in this thread. He asked about WIDTH. We have plenty of threads to discuss Model X side mirrors.

What is the criteria for deleting threads? Would we keep a thread about me asking Tesla to make the Model X a 6 wheeler instead of just using 4? Come on now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TOBASH
What is the criteria for deleting threads? Would we keep a thread about me asking Tesla to make the Model X a 6 wheeler instead of just using 4? Come on now.

Huh? Where did I say anything about deleting the thread? I pointed out that people were talking about a completely different issue than the thread was about. How did you get to 'deleting the thread'?

And yes, we would keep a 6-wheeler thread. We don't delete threads because we think they're ridiculous. Only if they're harmful, contain IP, etc. Come on now.
 
That's exactly the answer I was looking for. I wasn't attacking your post about staying on topic, I was just wondering if there were specific stipulations for threads to keep them on the site. Thank you for the incite. I'm glad you allow pretty much any topic, at least for discussion. With that said, I don't think Tesla will take any consideration about requests for the width of Model X to be changed.
 
Today I wrote to Tesla Motors:

I understand you are designing the final prototype of the Model X.

Please consider the size of the Autobahn in Germany. We have a lot of work done on the Autobahns. In areas where there are workers present, there are only two lanes. The right lane is used mainly by trucks going very slowly. The left lane is oftentimes limited to cars of less than 200 cm in total width (including mirrors), sometimes they give us 210 cm.

With my model S I need to always use the right lane during road work. I am forced to drive slowly between bis trucks, an intimidating situation.

So if possible, don't make the Model X 201 cm or 211 cm wide. Make it 200 cm or less or 210 cm or less.

Thank you from Germany and Europe (just talk to our Italien friends).

Johann Koeber

To get back on topic, the Model S seems to be 1964mm with mirrors folded and 2189mm with mirrors extended (from the Tesla specs page).

For the Hong Kong market (where I live), that is the absolute maximum I could accept. The Model S barely fits in parking spaces as it is - if the Model X is any wider, it is just not going to sell.

On a related note (sliding back off topic), Tesla also need to take care with the height. Model S height is 1435mm. Anything over 1800mm just won't fit in most car parks here.

Bottom line is that I know Americans are fond of large cars, but if Tesla want to sell cars outside America they need to curb their enthusiasm.
 
While I think those are all valid requests lets not forget, without sales in the United States, there wouldn't be a company to sell cars in China. Tesla needs to compete with US CUV/SUV market leaders before it needs to "curb it's enthusiasm" (awesome show BTW) to sell cars in China. I understand China is a MASSIVE market but without the US market in their pocket a China market will cease to exist because the company won't.
 
While I think those are all valid requests lets not forget, without sales in the United States, there wouldn't be a company to sell cars in China. Tesla needs to compete with US CUV/SUV market leaders before it needs to "curb it's enthusiasm" (awesome show BTW) to sell cars in China. I understand China is a MASSIVE market but without the US market in their pocket a China market will cease to exist because the company won't.

I think Tesla disagrees. If they didn't, they wouldn't be making right hand drive cars, and they wouldn't be opening offices and deploying networks of superchargers across Europe, Asia, etc.

Without sales in the USA, there wouldn't be a Tesla today. But, without sales outside USA, there won't be a Tesla in the future.

A little bit dated, but here are the world rankings:

World’s Car Market: Top25 countries ranking in August 2013. | Focus2Move

USA is big, but there is a bigger world out there.
 
I absolutely agree with that, but with only one real "mainstream" vehicle in production, they need to show investors and the US buyers that they aren't that "one trick pony" all the critics keep calling them. They need to build a strong brand here in the states right now, show they can produce multiple, successful vehicles and then moving forward, bring a vehicle to the European and Asian markets of which will satisfy the needs you have states above....I just don't think they just can't do that quite yet.
 
I think Tesla disagrees. If they didn't, they wouldn't be making right hand drive cars, and they wouldn't be opening offices and deploying networks of superchargers across Europe, Asia, etc.

Without sales in the USA, there wouldn't be a Tesla today. But, without sales outside USA, there won't be a Tesla in the future.

A little bit dated, but here are the world rankings:

World’s Car Market: Top25 countries ranking in August 2013. | Focus2Move

USA is big, but there is a bigger world out there.

I absolutely agree with that, but with only one real "mainstream" vehicle in production, they need to show investors and the US buyers that they aren't that "one trick pony" all the critics keep calling them. They need to build a strong brand here in the states right now, show they can produce multiple, successful vehicles and then moving forward, bring a vehicle to the European and Asian markets of which will satisfy the needs you have states above....I just don't think they just can't do that quite yet.

Investors are absolutely expecting that they are focusing on worldwide markets, and not just being US-centric. You only have to look at how the market reacted to the Chinese market opening up to know that's true. To show US investors and investors world wide that they're not a one-trick pony, they need to act like a world wide company. They're doing the right things.
 
My whole point was that Tesla isn't going to change specifications of the Model X to hopefully "improve" sales in a certain country...Model X has been designed to sell well all over the world even though it may be a bit too wide or tall for certain areas of a specific country, ie. Manhattan, Hong Kong, Rome, etc.
 
We all realise it is too late to change anything.

I guess the point of this thread is to hope that Tesla has thought about these things and truly designed a car that will sell well all over the world. I don't think the issue is with a particular international market. It is more that spaces in cities are not as large as those in the country / suburbs. It doesn't matter if the city is Hong Kong, London, Rome or New York - we all have the same issues of narrow streets and tight parking garages. If Tesla just makes big cars, they are going to exclude a large portion of the population from ownership.