The Tesla Model X will be officially launched in September – the announcement of the SUV’s upcoming arrival was made through a Tesla Motors letter to its shareholders.
The automaker revealed that it was in the process of building more validation vehicles, executing final engineering and testing work, enabling its new manufacturing equipment and finalising arrangements with it suppliers. Production of release candidate Model X bodies in its new body shop has also begun.
The Model X is set to be built alongside the Model S at the company’s production plant in Fremont, despite only sharing 30% parts commonality. Tesla says it expects 2016 production to be around 1,600 to 1,800 vehicles a week for both models combined.
The SUV will feature the “Ludicrous Mode” seen on the Model S, which is set to make it the fastest SUV in the world, outpacing the likes of the BMW X5 M and X6 M, Porsche Cayenne Turbo S and Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S. According to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the X will be able to do a 0-96 km/h run in about 3.2 or 3.3 seconds.
As for operational range, the top-spec Model X should be able to manage at least 400 km on a single charge. This despite an energy usage per mile rating around 10% higher than the Model S – the X is set to feature 5-6% greater battery packing to offset the former, and so the impact to total range will only be around 4-5% less than the sedan.
As mentioned in earlier reports, the Model X will come with all-wheel drive as standard and will be powered by two independent, digitally-controlled electric motors. The highlight will ultimately be its ‘Falcon Wing’ rear doors, which fold up and out of the way to allow easy access to its third row seats.
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