In case you missed the Tesla Model X launch event last night

It was truly a remarkable event last night!!  In numerous ways, both plus and minus.  I received my invitation about 5 days before the event as a result of being an early reservation holder.  Yes, I’ve been on the reservation list for over 3 years.

I tried very hard to convince myself to buy the S but in the end I just could not get comfortable with the way the ergonomics of the driver seat and cabin were engineered.  It was much improved over the roadster but still not something I could see myself getting in an out of with my 6’3″ frame and proportionately even longer legs.  When you sat in the driver seat with the seat all the way back the side cross bar support steel beam essentially aligned to my mid thigh.  To get out of the car you needed to scootch forward to the very front of the seat, then swing your legs out and then lift yourself out while not hitting your head in the process.  If I’m going to spend this kind of money it needs to be much easier than that.

So that’s why I’m here.  I’ve been told the main focus of the Model X was to fix the ingress and egress issues for all passengers (driver and rear seat passengers alike).  So let’s take a step back now and walk you through the whole event experience and my impressions of Tesla the company, the Model X itself and Elon himself.

Lets start out with the truly UGLY!  As an invited “special” guest and in theory one of Tesla’s most valued customers to be I honestly felt more like one of those cows you see off I5 on your way from SF to LA just waiting to be slaughtered.  The published agenda for the program was as follows:

—  6:00PM parking lots open

—  7:00PM Doors open

—  7:30PM  The program begins (Elon’s presentation and the official first presentation of the car)

—  8:00PM  Test drives begin

Reality:

1. The event staff directing traffic did not even know which side of the building the guests were going to enter and trust me the Tesla Factory is a big building.  This lead to mass confusion as to where you were to park and line up.
2. Parking lot did not open until more like 6:45.  People were left for 45 minutes standing around outside a closed sliding steal gate door to the parking lot.  Most people like myself by this point had parked elsewhere and walked to the entrance.
3. Once the gate opened people and cars started streaming into the lot and you were ushered into an area where you lined up for your badge and then lined up again to wait to get into the building.  First image of that poor cow on the I-5 freeway begins to emerge.
4. The doors finally open to the event itself around 7:45PM.  By this time I would estimate there are at least 5,000 people in the line.  We’re all then lead into a section of the factory meant to maybe accommodate 500 people comfortably.  Mostly open floor but with a main stage and a few other side stage areas along with several large projection screens.  All this lead to most people figuring this was where the event itself was most likely going to take place.  We were all kept in the section of the factory for 45 minutes, crammed in like sardines wondering what and where is this event going to take place.
5. 8:30 strikes and now they open 4 small tunnel areas through which these 5K people were all ushered through leading to an adjacent section of the factory where the event was really going to take place.  20 more minutes of feeling like a sardine in the new factory area when Elon finally comes on and the car shows up.  It’s now about 8:45, the program was supposed to have started at 7:30 and most of us have been standing in lines and bullpens crammed together for over 2 hours.  Elon’s pitch and the car better be something really special!!

Well I guess the bottom line is Tesla seems to be trying to create an Apple-like cult culture around the company, only geared towards those of us that are struggling to remember what it was like to be a teenager.  Funny to see so many 50 and 60 somethings behaving like teenagers and tolerating this treatment.  I guess since I did stay and tolerate it to hear the pitch and see and feel the car it makes me one of those.  OK OK.

Now onto Elon’s pitch and the car.  The pitch was good.  Not Steve Jobs great, but good.  Numerous loud rounds of applause and ooh-ing and ahhh-ing.  Note: always a standing ovation due to the fact we had were all standing anyway and had been for almost 3 hours.

Elon’s emphasis in his pitch:

1. Safety.  Safest SUV on the road by a wide margin.  Claims to be forcing the NHSTB to add a 6 star rating to their rating system.  Elon clearly very proud of this aspect of the car.  He spent about 1/3rd of his entire presentation on this.
2. Performance engineering.  Not much new v the S but still way ahead of any of the competition.  0-60 in 3.2 Seconds with an SUV.  Still tops the Porsche 911.
3. Ingress and egress comfort when accessing all seating positions in the Car.  Mission accomplished for the driver!!  That’s what I was looking for.
4. Practical and functional use.  Tremendous amount of storage capacity, can tow up to 5K pounds, comes with a utility hitch for bikes and skis, etc.

Now onto the car/SUV/Rig itself.  It’s brilliant in every way!!

1. Most important to me I fit perfectly in the Driver’s seat and can get in and out just as easily if not more easily than I do in our Lexus RX450H.  In all honestly the driver’s seat is the most comfortable seat/chair/couch or even bed, I’ve ever sat in or on.  I’m not sure I can tell you exactly why or how they did it, they just did.  Brilliant!!
2. Range is 257 for the standard P90 and 250 for the P90 ludicrous.  The straight P90 gets from 0-60 in 4.8 seconds v the Ludicrous in 3.2 seconds.  The range is less than the S by around 10%.  Not bad given the extra weight and the worse aerodynamics that go along with the larger body style.  They had to keep the standard side view mirrors.  It had been rumored they were going to side view cameras only.  My guess is this was due to not getting the needed regulatory approvals.  I doubt it was a technology issue.
3. Safety.  Simply off the charts.  The NTHSB star rating system essentially measures the probability of being severely injured or killed in a high speed frontal or side collision. One star is 30%, 2 star 25%, 3 star 20%, 4 star 15% and five star (the highest they go) is 10%.  The Model X came in at 6%.  The next best SUV on the market was rated above 10%.  Remember this does not count all the collision avoidance technology in the car.  Just amazing what it can do in terms of detecting dangerous situations and automatically adjusting to avoid the danger.
4. Safety – Air quality.  Elon takes great pride in the air filtration system in the car.  In fact they’ve even added a button to max the filtration they call the bio-weapon defense button.  Claims it filters “everything” out of the air you breathe including all spores and viruses.  He showed off a chart of 8-10 of the worlds major cities and what your increased life expectancy would be if you drove the X for the rest of your life.  Needless to say he expects to sell a lot of these in Beijing!!
5. Comfort and practicality.  Easy access to all seats was a major priority and they accomplished it.  I already covered the driver.  The gull winged doors were a key component to this.  I really don’t think they did it just because it was cool looking.  It took the gull winged doors around 5 seconds to fully open and the same to close.  With the doors all the way up and the push button controls to slide the middle seat forward you can easily get into and out of all passenger seats in the back.  The seats are all amazingly comfortable and practical.  They’re mounted more like airplane seats with room underneath to slide feet underneath and store backpacks.  The middle row of seats is 3 full and complete seats.  Not the half strange middle seat you get with all other SUVs.  While I was waiting my turn to try the driver seat (over an hour) at one point there were 7 people in the car all over 6 feet and all fit comfortably.  Not sure I would want to do a four drive to Bandon Dunes like this but otherwise everyone fit nicely.  With the gull winged doors you cannot mount a roof rack so they offer instead a utility rack that is mounted from the hitch in the back that can carry 6 bikes and skis or snow boards.  Looked very practical to me.  The storage capacity even with all 7 seats in place was amazing.  The rear storage area goes down deep in a vertical direction.  Looked to me like you really could store golf clubs vertically, it’s that deep.  The horizontal depth is not great.  Maybe only 18-20 inches.  I did not measure it.  In terms of width I would say it’s as wide if not a bit wider than my RX450.  Again, I was not able to measure it.  The front storage area seems to be much larger than the S to me.  Easily fit a double baby stroller plus a couple shopping bags .  If you take out the back row of seats you massively increase the capacity.  Looked easy to do but I was not able to do it or see it done.  With the third row of seats removed I would expect it easy to store skis, snow boards and bikes inside.  Someone asked me last week to see if vacuuming up breadcrumbs would be easy.  A snap.  Very easy.  One really cool feature is the automatically opening driver door when you approach and then once you’re in the seat it automatically closes.  Also, the gull winged doors have sensors (not visible eternally) that detect objects in their way like a low garage ceiling and will adjust the pattern of the opening to be sure not to make any contact.  I assume this same technology is in the driver door but did not hear it said or saw it demonstrated.  The massive glass windscreen is also amazing.  Gives you an amazing panoramic view.  The glass looks permanently tinted and there is a visor mounted to the side that swings down and over to block specific sunlight or glare
6. 
7. Functional specs – None provided.  No pricing detailed or timing on deliveries.

Overall summary:

1. The Car/SUV is perfect!
2. Tesla has done a great job designing and engineering it in every way.
3. Elon is a Steve Jobs category visionary.  Not as motivating a speaker but just as visionary and bold.
4. The event itself leaves a lot to be desired.  The staff was completely unprepared for the event.  Trying their best but completely in the dark on virtually everything.  To actually get the promised test drive I’m sure many people waited around to the wee hours of the morning.  Heck the way it was going they may still be there.  There were people there from as far away as Sydney Australia.  Many people came long distances to be there.  Very cult like feeling but completely different to the Apple enthusiasts in virtually every other way.

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