Photo: Theophilus Chin
Ever since Elon Musk talked about a Tesla minibus, people's imagination started running wild. But that only lasted for a few more words out of the CEO's mouth, because the next sentence (or was it the same?) contained another piece of info: it would be based on the Model X platform.
Alright, that makes sense. The electric SUV is already a pretty competent seven-seater, so with a few adjustments, it could be turned into a proper people carrier. What sort of adjustments? We don't know and frankly, we don't even care. That's the job of the well-paid Tesla engineers and designers to figure out. What we're very interested in, however, is how the vehicle will look like.
Just because it will use the same architecture as the Model X doesn't necessary mean it will look all that similar. Sure, Tesla is starting to be pretty big on brand identity, but it hasn't reached the same level as Audi, for example, where every model seems to be a scaled version of the other two it's bracketed by in the range. So, no, we don't think the Tesla minivan will look like a Model X with a taller rear end.
Well, at least we hope so. Theophilus Chin, on the other hand, seems to disagree. His interpretation of this Musk's announcement presents itself precisely like our worst nightmare: it's the most straightforward minivan conversion that the Model X could have gone through.
It's not that we're panicking - after all, we doubt Mr. Chin knows anything more than we do, so this was probably just the easiest solution for him and nothing more - but we just don't want things like this lying around the internet. You never know who might see it and think it's a good idea.
Frankly, we're as excited as anyone else about the minibus, as Musk called it, and that's because it was dubbed to be fully autonomous. Obviously, that can only mean we still have a few years to wait until it enters production, but it's not like we'll get bored in the meantime: Tesla has just introduced the 100 kWh battery packs, the Model 3 is on the way, and next year, we'll know more about the Tesla pickup and the company's full-size truck. Yup, things are really catching speed over in Palo Alto/Reno.
Just because it will use the same architecture as the Model X doesn't necessary mean it will look all that similar. Sure, Tesla is starting to be pretty big on brand identity, but it hasn't reached the same level as Audi, for example, where every model seems to be a scaled version of the other two it's bracketed by in the range. So, no, we don't think the Tesla minivan will look like a Model X with a taller rear end.
Well, at least we hope so. Theophilus Chin, on the other hand, seems to disagree. His interpretation of this Musk's announcement presents itself precisely like our worst nightmare: it's the most straightforward minivan conversion that the Model X could have gone through.
It's not that we're panicking - after all, we doubt Mr. Chin knows anything more than we do, so this was probably just the easiest solution for him and nothing more - but we just don't want things like this lying around the internet. You never know who might see it and think it's a good idea.
Frankly, we're as excited as anyone else about the minibus, as Musk called it, and that's because it was dubbed to be fully autonomous. Obviously, that can only mean we still have a few years to wait until it enters production, but it's not like we'll get bored in the meantime: Tesla has just introduced the 100 kWh battery packs, the Model 3 is on the way, and next year, we'll know more about the Tesla pickup and the company's full-size truck. Yup, things are really catching speed over in Palo Alto/Reno.
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