Tesla Launches The Model X, And Even The CEO Thinks It's Outlandish

When it first announced plans to build an electric SUV in 2012, Tesla Motors showed off a taller version of its Model S sedan with gullwing doors and production planned for 2013. Two years after its original launch date, the first Model X finally left Tesla’s hands Tuesday night, and quickly made a claim for one of the most exotic, expensive vehicles on the road —a status that even Tesla co-founder Elon Musk thinks may have gone too far.

“We got a little carried away with the X. I’m not sure anyone should make this car, really,” Musk told reporters. “There’s far more there than really necessary to sell the car…all these things together make the car amazing. It’s next level.”

With the Model X, America’s lone start-up automaker attempts to launch its second act, a bridge between the luxury-but-niche Model S sedan and a truly mass-produced electric car to be built within a few years. Yet Musk admits that instead of simply modifying the Model S, the engineers on the Model X found their own ludicrous mode that goes far beyond the 713 lb-ft of torque from its electric motors.

Start with the shape, a long hatchback dominated by the rear gullwing “falcon” doors and a panoramic windshield that covers the entire front passenger compartment, the largest such glass in the automotive world. The doors are filled with sensors front and back; an “invisible chauffeur” senses when a driver approaches with the key fob, and can automatically open the front doors.

Those rear gullwing doors felt like an exotic piece of car-show puffery when they were first revealed, and in production form, they’re science fiction come to life. Each door is hinged in the center, and guided by four different sensors that measure the distance to obstacles around them, slowly cantilevering themselves skyward. (Musk said he made the engineers study ballet dancers to make the doors open with the proper grace.) Tesla says the doors need only 11.8 inches of clearance to open, and lift themselves until they clear the roof of the car next to them.

Inside those doors lies the most complex seats ever installed in a vehicle. Instead of sliding on tracks, the “monopost” seats glide on a single pole in six- or seven-seat configurations. Unlike other SUVs, the second row doesn’t fold flat, but slides forward and separates until its squished against the front row. Tesla says between the third row that folds flat, the extra cargo space created by the electric drivetrain and the seats, the X will have more hauling space than most competitors.

The dashboard is an evolution of the Model S layout, complete with requisite 17-inch touch screen, but with a few additional features, including an HEPA air-filtration system so extreme Musk says the car has a “bioweapons defense” mode; the air coming through is comparable to a hospital.