Tesla's next big car is the Model X SUV. It's supposed to arrive later in 2015 — after having its market debut pushed back a bit by Elon Musk & Co.
That's raised some questions with the the analysts and observers who follow Tesla, both as an investment and as a car company.
But as the video below appears to indicate, Tesla is starting to test the Model X. That should settle a few nerves.
Someone named Juan del Real posted the video to YouTube. He shot it on his iPhone while hanging out a skate park near an closed Navy base in Alameda, Calif. The video shows the new Tesla making an acceleration run and turning some circles at speed, all in the shadow of hulking container ships.
There was some speculation that the car in the video was a Tesla Model 3, the mass-market vehicle that Tesla wants to start delivering in 2017.
But that doesn't make a lot of sense, as we haven't even seen a prototype of the Model 3 yet. And we probably won't until late this year or sometime in 2016.
So the car in the video is almost certainly a pre-production version of the Model X, being put through some rudimentary paces.
Tesla shut down production at its Fremont, Calif. factory last year to prepare to build the Model X. The new line has been up and running for a while, so it stands to reason that Model X's that can actually be driven are starting to roll off.
Here's the full video:
See Also:
