JMO, but some of you guys, aren't looking closely enough and taking into account what this really means. Tesla is not backing off of anything. They are sticking to their story, and simply adding "clarification" to it.
But they aren't "backing off" of a thing.
Looks to me that they're "still" using the reference to, and terminology of, "Motor Power" and have a "Motor Power" column in their ad copy. In this particular column, the P85D is now listed as 503 hp rear, 259 hp front.
For the 85D and the 70D, the "Motor Power is listed as the same, "259 hp front and rear". So the 85D and the 70D both are listed as making the same "motor power".
It seems that they are now listing the "Battery limited maximum motor shaft power" for each car in their ad copy.
My own observations, are that they are merely adding the "[SUP]*[/SUP] Battery limited maximum motor shaft power" as a concession to those who made a stink about it, and have no intention whatsoever of backing off of the 691 hp motor power and 762 hp motor power specs of the P85D and P90D respectively.
They still invite you to add the front and rear motor power together in their current ad copy, and nothing that they have done here would prevent one from STILL stating that the car makes a "combined 691, or 762 motor power".
Indeed the 762 number is still prominently shown in that latest Motor Trend article, and I doubt that it will be retracted. Look for it to also show up in subsequent publications.
I look at this as analogous to an ICE manufacturer advertising what his car makes under the hood, and then "clarifying" that number by spelling out what it makes at the wheels on say a chassis dyno. He is not compelled to showcase, nor even display the second number, has not relinquished his option to showcase the first number, and he will advertise and showcase the first number.
However instead of saying what the car makes at the wheels as in the ICE vehicle example, Tesla is saying what it makes at the
"motor shafts". But until they ditch the whole reference to "motor power", its a bit early to break out the champagne. Because they have still left it there and they will use it, make no mistake, and publications will use it as well.
For those who believe that the 85D is still somehow "close" in performance to the P85D, well simply look at the torque numbers. Torque is key when it comes to making a car move off the line. And a difference of 713 lb/ft of torque vs 485 lb/ft of torque, is a huge difference and worth a lot to me.
The numbers explain a lot. They explain the off the line acceleration differences observed, and the highway speed differences observed.
But no, I think this addition with the asterisk, indicating " Battery limited maximum motor shaft power" is a concession used to assuage those who complained, and Tesla appears to have no intent at all of discarding or junking their use of the term "motor power" , and well they shouldn't because their EV competition will do so as well.
Basically, what they have done here, is throw some of us a bone. They'll let some of us gnaw on that bone, thinking that they've finally "come clean", but really, the only thing that has changed, is that they have added another "measurement" to the measurements that they were already using, as opposed to discarding their prior method of measurement and trading it in, or "replacing it" for a new system of measurement. So no, they're not backing off of a thing. If they were, well then you would see absolutely no further reference to "motor power" in their ad copy. They would have scrapped it, and you would only see "hp". They still appear to fully intend to use themselves, and "allow" others, magazines and such, to use the combined "motor power" reference when describing the P85D and P90D.
