Model X Falcon Doors

[AnOutsider]

I worry a bit that Tesla is off to the races, placing a concept car into production without the usual time to let wiser heads prevail. We'll see soon....

Hasn't the design been fairly worked out since June-ish of last year (when Elon said he thinks it's time to reveal it)? If so, they've had a while to actual work out the details and produce a prototype.

And Tesla might simply make them an option (like the Pano roof) for people that want them and have traditional doors for those that don't.

I hadn't considered that. Plausible, especially if there isn't a huge structural difference either way.

[felixtb]

there probably would be quite a structural difference since with sliding doors and that large of a vehicle the doors would probably be too long to slide from front to back. for conventional doors you need a B-pillar or suicide doors. so in the end I think it's either a full montey or nothing.................... I bet the falcon doors make it to production. they've figured out how and as WK said they can easily make them electrified for convenience.

[ckessel]

Hasn't the design been fairly worked out since June-ish of last year (when Elon said he thinks it's time to reveal it)? If so, they've had a while to actual work out the details and produce a prototype.

And they're not shipping for another 20+ months (end of 2013). There's time for adjustments. Think of where the Model S was 20 months ago.

[Kevin Harney]

And they're not shipping for another 20+ months (end of 2013). There's time for adjustments. Think of where the Model S was 20 months ago.

Yes but they are revealing a fully functioning near production advanced prototype. So I am pretty sure that it will be "what you see is what you get" and that will be about 90-95% true.

[ckessel]

Yes but they are revealing a fully functioning near production advanced prototype. So I am pretty sure that it will be "what you see is what you get" and that will be about 90-95% true.

Yea, well, I'll take it with a few grains of salt . They said much the same thing about the prototype Model S. It might be a bit of semantics though, they could changes the doors and do quite a bit of styling detail and still be 90% the same. The biggest thing is they've got the skateboard and presumably a lot of the inner frame work stays the same or close to it (like crumple zone, pillars, etc) so there is a lot of "guts" level stuff that's finished.

[AnOutsider]

Yes but they are revealing a fully functioning near production advanced prototype. So I am pretty sure that it will be "what you see is what you get" and that will be about 90-95% true.

Perhaps that means interior/dashboard too. Might provide clues as to how the Model S final dash might look. I'll be curious to see their implementation of the screen on the X as well.

[NigelM]

This from an article today on www.autoblog.com:

So, what are falcon doors? Having seen photos of the Model X, Theo O'Neill of Wunderlich Securities explains that they "lift up and fold – like the wing of a bird," pivoting from the top. Apparently, this will help the Model X achieve its "functionality of a minivan" mandate, allowing easy access to attend to child car seats and such.

[Kevin Harney]

Yea, well, I'll take it with a few grains of salt . They said much the same thing about the prototype Model S. It might be a bit of semantics though, they could changes the doors and do quite a bit of styling detail and still be 90% the same. The biggest thing is they've got the skateboard and presumably a lot of the inner frame work stays the same or close to it (like crumple zone, pillars, etc) so there is a lot of "guts" level stuff that's finished.

Flip side is that not really much changed on the Model S either. Yes some minor cosmetic stuff but generally it is as released at that time. I personally think that the Model X is not really that far behind the Model S in production. I think what we will be seeing Thursday will be considered an Alpha stage not a prototype. And quite possibly it will be a Beta stage.

[jcstp]

davidimai David Imai
When people ask me about the rumored "falcon doors," I just say that we put a bird on it. #portlandia meets #tesla.

Twitter

[Norbert]

If there is a backlash against the doors then I think Tesla could easily just replace them with traditional doors BUT I think they are very proud of these doors and excited about them and they are headed for production (barring a backlash).

Elon's latest tweet more or less confirms that:

Yes, we will unveil a fully functional advanced prototype of the Model X -- almost identical to production.