Tesla Motors will reportedly unveil its electric slated-for-launch-in-2014 Model X crossover ahead of the vehicle's official world debut at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show in January. Previous reports had hinted that the Model X would be unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. Needless to say, that unveiling never occurred.
The upcoming crossover will be built on the same platform as the automaker's Model S rides on. Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk confirmed to Autocar that the Model X will be a blend between a MPV and a SUV. Autocar quotes Musk:
The time is right to unveil the car. I've seen the latest design for it and I'm very happy with it.
Musk says it will have class-leading interior volume, so we'd assume that seating for seven is a design priority, as it was with the Model S. Gilbert Passin, Tesla's manufacturing boss, talked of the automaker's ability to manufacture multiple body styles off the same platform:
We can build many models on the same line. The Model S is just one top hat on a platform that is very modular. All our pressing modules are very adjustable and we're working on improving that flexibility even further and making it faster at the moment.
So, perhaps the Model X is but one variant of numerous to come, including the long-rumored $30,000 "mainstream" electric. Will Musk and Wall Street Journal scribe Dan Neil make a bet on the Model X?
