Model X spotted in Europe?

ludicrousspeed · Feb 3, 2016

Here's the article: First Tesla Model X spotted in Europe happens to be seen near Audis headquarters | Electrek

Not sure if this is common knowledge or a non-story, but I haven't seen any word or posts about Model X anywhere outside of the U.S. The article claims that this Model X, apparently seen in Germany near Audi's headquarters (certainly looks like a foreign license plate), may simply have been bought by Audi in order to study their competition. That's quite the accusation but there are not a ton of options as to how this came to be. I know there's a high chance that this is not the original owner, as some have already sold their X through ebay and other mediums, but I think this is interesting either way. Thoughts?

Edit: I just noticed the thread showing the X in Dubai and a comment about how there's one now there, China, and Germany. Not sure when all of this came up but it's news to me. Can only be a good sign.

goneskiian · Feb 3, 2016

ludicrousspeed said:
Here's the article: First Tesla Model X spotted in Europe happens to be seen near Audis headquarters | Electrek

Not sure if this is common knowledge or a non-story, but I haven't seen any word or posts about Model X anywhere outside of the U.S. The article claims that this Model X, apparently seen in Germany near Audi's headquarters (certainly looks like a foreign license plate), may simply have been bought by Audi in order to study their competition. That's quite the accusation but there are not a ton of options as to how this came to be. I know there's a high chance that this is not the original owner, as some have already sold their X through ebay and other mediums, but I think this is interesting either way. Thoughts?

Edit: I just noticed the thread showing the X in Dubai and a comment about how there's one now there, China, and Germany. Not sure when all of this came up but it's news to me. Can only be a good sign.

There's a post about this in the "Random X Sightings" thread too. And where it was first postulated that it could be an Audi owned X.

#1403

madodel · Feb 3, 2016

goneskiian said:
There's a post about this in the "Random X Sightings" thread too. And where it was first postulated that it could be an Audi owned X.

#1403

I asked my DS at my delivery about BMW and other car makers getting X's. He said they had to reserve, order and pay for them just like the rest of us. So Tesla is aware of this. He also said that a US Tesla can't use the chargers in Europe or Africa so I suppose these foreign X's must have special chargers since I doubt any non-US electrical X's have been built yet.

goneskiian · Feb 3, 2016

madodel said:
I asked my DS at my delivery about BMW and other car makers getting X's. He said they had to reserve, order and pay for them just like the rest of us. So Tesla is aware of this. He also said that a US Tesla can't use the chargers in Europe or Africa so I suppose these foreign X's must have special chargers since I doubt any non-US electrical X's have been built yet.

There have been Founders and Sigs that have already been sold though so anyone could have bought one off of Ebay and had it shipped overseas, to like say Dubai maybe. ;-)

Great point about the charging differences though. That would definitely make me think it's a Euro X Mule.

Saghost · Feb 4, 2016

madodel said:
I asked my DS at my delivery about BMW and other car makers getting X's. He said they had to reserve, order and pay for them just like the rest of us. So Tesla is aware of this. He also said that a US Tesla can't use the chargers in Europe or Africa so I suppose these foreign X's must have special chargers since I doubt any non-US electrical X's have been built yet.

As long as they aren't trying to Supercharge, charging won't be hard. U.S. J1772 is the same as Mennekes type 1, which is somewhat available in Europe I believe. More importantly, the universal standard in Europe is Mennekes type 2, and type 2 to type 1 adapters aren't hard to find I believe. (You lose the ability to utilize all three phases, so charging is slower, but that's probably not a huge issue for a test car.)

johnnyduval · Feb 4, 2016

Was reading yesterday that it is confirmed as an Audi owned "reverse engineering" unit they obtained. You would do the same thing if you were them and building a direct competitor. They had 3 of the Model S for testing and stripping down as well in the past. It doesn't mean the Model X is better or worse than the Audi when it arrives - but as a manufacturer you would be crazy not to check the competition in detail.

Must admit I am personally getting more and more switched off the Model X. They told me Spring 2016 when I ordered a year ago.....and I asked if that was realistic at the time and they confirmed it was. Since then nothing and no replies from my emails to them. In Europe we do not have pricing, and we do not have access to a configurator so I assume my unit is now probably about a year away, although I am past caring and may cancel shortly.

p.s. If Mr. Musk reads my "super rude" post here I will probaby get my order cancelled anyways.

PeterK · Feb 4, 2016

johnnyduval said:
Was reading yesterday that it is confirmed as an Audi owned "reverse engineering" unit they obtained. You would do the same thing if you were them and building a direct competitor. They had 3 of the Model S for testing and stripping down as well in the past. It doesn't mean the Model X is better or worse than the Audi when it arrives - but as a manufacturer you would be crazy not to check the competition in detail.

Must admit I am personally getting more and more switched off the Model X. They told me Spring 2016 when I ordered a year ago.....and I asked if that was realistic at the time and they confirmed it was. Since then nothing and no replies from my emails to them. In Europe we do not have pricing, and we do not have access to a configurator so I assume my unit is now probably about a year away, although I am past caring and may cancel shortly.

p.s. If Mr. Musk reads my "super rude" post here I will probaby get my order cancelled anyways.

Good luck finding something comparable from Audi or anyone else, sooner.

CarlK · Feb 4, 2016

PeterK said:
Good luck finding something comparable from Audi or anyone else, sooner.

In Alsop's words there is not even a pale copy of the X that he's no longer allowed to buy. Don't be like him kids.

johnnyduval · Feb 4, 2016

Good luck finding something comparable from Audi or anyone else, sooner.

You assume I feel the need to be electric.......I don't.

PeterK · Feb 4, 2016

johnnyduval said:
You assume I feel the need to be electric.......I don't.

But that's exactly what you don't seem to get, Johnny. Most Tesla buyers aren't going electric because they NEED to be electric, it's because there is nothing comparable, electric or ICE (or HFC for that matter). That's why I just ordered my second Tesla, and expect I'll never buy another ICE again - certainly not for my own use.

CarlK · Feb 6, 2016

PeterK said:
But that's exactly what you don't seem to get, Johnny. Most Tesla buyers aren't going electric because they NEED to be electric, it's because there is nothing comparable, electric or ICE (or HFC for that matter). That's why I just ordered my second Tesla, and expect I'll never buy another ICE again - certainly not for my own use.

Most people buy a Tesla car because it's the best car for them although many of the car's unique attributes like smooth and responsive power delivery and low center of gravity did come from the fact that it's an electric car. No ICE car could ever reach that level of performance for sure.

vigge50 · Feb 6, 2016

johnnyduval said:
Was reading yesterday that it is confirmed as an Audi owned "reverse engineering" unit they obtained. You would do the same thing if you were them and building a direct competitor. They had 3 of the Model S for testing and stripping down as well in the past. It doesn't mean the Model X is better or worse than the Audi when it arrives - but as a manufacturer you would be crazy not to check the competition in detail.

Must admit I am personally getting more and more switched off the Model X. They told me Spring 2016 when I ordered a year ago.....and I asked if that was realistic at the time and they confirmed it was. Since then nothing and no replies from my emails to them. In Europe we do not have pricing, and we do not have access to a configurator so I assume my unit is now probably about a year away, although I am past caring and may cancel shortly.

p.s. If Mr. Musk reads my "super rude" post here I will probaby get my order cancelled anyways.

I read somewhere on this forum that spine had got information in the end of January that the design studio would open for Europe within 8 weeks wish means the end of March. I don't now exactly then they will start delivering in Europe but I would think that it would be in the autumn.

edit:

I talked with some people from EU Tesla, and:

* They are working really hard to get Model X to Geneva, with 99% probability of success.
* The European configurator will open in approximately 8 weeks (end of March?)

I have purchased the tickets to Geneva yesterday. Fingers crossed

Model X goes Europe

Loriot · Feb 6, 2016

I applaud Elon's altruistic gesture in opening up Tesla's patents, but I cringe when I see how one-sided it remains. Competitors grab hold of a Model X as quick as possible and tear it down to learn how to copy what's new to them. So much for Audi's mantra of "Vorsprung durch Technik".

Granted, they all do it, but it's disappointing just how much the Martin Shkreli school of business dominates.

First Tesla Model X spotted in Europe happens to be seen near Audis headquarters | Electrek

CarlK · Feb 6, 2016

Perhaps Elon thinks it's OK to have other companies to copy. The best they could do is to copy a 3~5 year old technology while Tesla is bringing out new technologies. As good as the Japanese were able to copy the Germans and Koreans are able to copy them both none of them could reach the same level as their moving targets.

ankitmishra · Feb 6, 2016

Yes. While they copy Tesla, Tesla will have become something better.

johnnyduval · Feb 7, 2016

Competitors grab hold of a Model X as quick as possible and tear it down to learn how to copy what's new to them. So much for Audi's mantra of "Vorsprung durch Technik".

Huh? And you don't think Tesla stripped down and looked at other cars when they built theirs?

And of course based on Elon's thinking he will be delighted that they have done this.

p.s. and on the stripdown they may look at parts and say "Whoooooaaah, that sux.......let's be sure we dont make that mistake". e.g. silly doors

PeterK · Feb 7, 2016

Johnny if you think the doors are silly why did you ever put a deposit on an X? Or did you really?

And of course Tesla studied other cars, eg they took apart a Maclaren F1's suspension to create the P85+. But these are the companies that you and many others claim are the big dogs who bring all this experience and expertise to "killing" Tesla - yet they're rushing out to get their hands on this tiny company's car. I agree with you that I'm sure Elon is smiling at that Audi report - I wouldn't be surprised if he tweets it!

anticitizen13.7 · Feb 7, 2016

johnnyduval said:
Huh? And you don't think Tesla stripped down and looked at other cars when they built theirs?

Not even remotely comparable situations.

Tesla purchased and disassembled a Mercedes S-class, but they weren't trying to build an ICE vehicle. The S-class was torn down and used as the underpinnings of the concept Model S that was shown to prospective future customers and investors.

SebastianR · Feb 7, 2016

Loriot said:
I applaud Elon's altruistic gesture in opening up Tesla's patents, but I cringe when I see how one-sided it remains. Competitors grab hold of a Model X as quick as possible and tear it down to learn how to copy what's new to them. So much for Audi's mantra of "Vorsprung durch Technik".

Granted, they all do it, but it's disappointing just how much the Martin Shkreli school of business dominates.

First Tesla Model X spotted in Europe happens to be seen near Audis headquarters | Electrek

Welcome to TMC!

I personally (and I think Elon & company) would love to see more (and better) electric vehicles on our roads. You probably know that Tesla's mission is "to accelerate the advent of sustainable transport". This of course means that at some time, others needs to have vehicles comparable to Tesla's cars, too.

With regards to Audi, I have lost all hope. The silently buried the R8 eTron and seem to focus solely on PHEV's that are carefully designed to minimise fleet CO2 emissions without providing any practical PHEV benefits. I'm so disappointed with Audi, I would be delighted if they just bought Model S, ripped out the Tesla logos and pasted their own logo on it and sold the cars for twice the price. Such action would be a shameless free-riding on Tesla's technology yet it would be 1000 times the EV commitment we can observer today. Heck, they don't even offer the A3 as pure EV even if it is just a rebranded Golf and the Golf EV exists. Vorsprung durch Technik existed in the original quattro days and in the days of procon-ten but certainly not today.

Johann Koeber · Feb 7, 2016

Aren't the patents published? For the information in the patents you would not need to take apart a Tesla.

I think it is the information beyond the patents that makes it interesting to learn from a Tesla.

Also I know Audi people want to feel how it rides. Porsche got a Tesla for their employees to try out - even over the week end. Audi organises test drives on the track for top employees. They get to test a lot of interesting competitor's cars.

Nothing wrong with learning from the best.

(wich they would)

Model X spotted in Europe?

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