1st In-Action Video Of Tesla Model X Falcon-Wing Door

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

Originally published on EV Obsession.

Some spy shooters recently landed a gold mine while at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California — they caught the Tesla Model X on camera with one of its falcon-wing doors opening and closing!! Sort of surprising that no one caught one before now, but just a few days before the official unveiling, it’s the perfect way to cap several months of fun spy shots and videos.

Here’s the video (published yesterday), which was shared on the Tesla Motors Club forum by the brother of the driver (and brother-in-law of the “videographer”):

The commentary is pretty funny. And regarding the “ghetto” extra push needed to shut the falcon-wing door, I think it’s safe to say that’s an idiosyncrasy of the mule and won’t be how things roll in the production vehicles.

I will give my own 2¢ on what we just saw, though: the opening and closing of the doors is subtler than I expected. I think that’s a big win and will make the car seem super slick to many on-lookers. That is going to be a demand pull — people will want that super cool feature.

There’s plenty of debate about whether the extra effort and delays to get the falcon-wing doors right were worth it. I think you’ve got to be crazy or smoking crack to think they weren’t. These doors will catch so many eyes. Once you’ve got people’s attention, “Yeah, it is quicker than almost every car ever mass produced but seats 7… comfortably. Wanna drive it for a minute?” Cha-ching!

This is a beautiful car and the falcon-wing-doors are the halo feature. And best of all for many buyers: they will make ingress/egress much easier, and make loading mini humans and cargo into the back seats much easier. Brilliant.

Sir Elon Musk gets a lot of praise for plenty of brilliant ideas and wise moves on the chess board of the auto industry, but I think this is one that stands out. Ironic that so many people criticize him for it. I can’t really put myself in that thought process well enough to “get it,” I guess.

3 days till the official unveiling and initial deliveries. Who’s getting excited?!

Related:

Model X P90D Range Now Up To 250 Miles

Model X Times 4 — Looking Hot (3 Pics, 1 Video)

Double Model X Video

How The Model X 2nd-Row Seats Work (Images)

Could The Tesla Model X Get A $25,000 Tax Deduction?

Windshield Of Tesla Model X To Be One Of Its Best Features

Tesla Model X 0-60 Time Beats Every SUV In History

Tesla Model X Design Studio Images & Specs Leaked


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica.TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

Zachary Shahan

Zach is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director, chief editor, and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA], NIO [NIO], Xpeng [XPEV], Ford [F], ChargePoint [CHPT], Amazon [AMZN], Piedmont Lithium [PLL], Lithium Americas [LAC], Albemarle Corporation [ALB], Nouveau Monde Graphite [NMGRF], Talon Metals [TLOFF], Arclight Clean Transition Corp [ACTC], and Starbucks [SBUX]. But he does not offer (explicitly or implicitly) investment advice of any sort.

Zachary Shahan has 7362 posts and counting. See all posts by Zachary Shahan