The bright minds at Tesla would not at all be wrong in assuming that, if they made the Model S all-wheel drive, it could improve its appeal and sales figures. The US has quite a few states where the climate gets rather chilly for a good few months every year, as does the north of Europe where the car is popular.

Recently, a prototype/mule was spotted on a highway in Nebraska sporting some rather visible outboard sensors on all of its wheels. It is suggested that these could mean any number of things, but the most obvious answer to why they are there is that, the car you see in the video, is actually a four-wheel drive mule/prototype of sorts which also sports a roof rack carrying…something.

It’s not hard to fathom it. Both the Model S sedan and future Model X crossover share the same platform, so it wouldn’t be all that hard to give the first an extra motor on the front axle, right?

Moreover, this could spawn an even faster variant of the all-electric sedan, which could not only be given more power, but also more grip off the line and through the corners – torque vectoring and all-wheel drive electric cars go hand in hand.

We should mention that, another theory going around at the TeslaMotorClub forums is that it could be a test mule for another vehicle, possibly the Model X crossover.

By Andrei Nedelea

Photo Credits: TeslaMotorClub forum poster Gear

PHOTO GALLERY

WP_20140220_19_29_47_ProWP_20140220_19_30_03_ProWP_20140220_19_30_27_Pro

VIDEO