Tesla officials have announced that, due to the high demand potential shown by the Model S all-electric sedan, they have pushed back the launch of the Model X crossover/SUV by around one year.
The move was made in order to give the Model S some time to “mature” on the market, if you will, so it now has the whole of 2013 to attract attention towards the world of EVs in general, and Tesla in particular.
The Model X was slated for production from the end of 2013, with first deliveries starting in early 2014. Now, with the news from Tesla, we understand that production has been pushed back until late 2014, with deliveries starting in early 2015.
As a reminder, the Model X is Tesla’s answer to the challenge of building a tall-riding SUV/crossover that runs solely on electricity and has no tailpipe emissions. It will use a modified version of the Model S’ platform, and will feature an optional front-mounted electric motor – it boosts torque by 50 percent in the performance version.
Still, we don’t know if the reasons stated for the delay are actually what’s going on, but to us at least, it seems just a bit far-fetched for a manufacturer to withhold the introduction of a new model (which should already be pretty much ready), because it doesn’t want to cast too big a shadow over its existing one-model-strong lineup.
By Andrei Nedelea
Story References: LA Times via Green Autoblog
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