
Tesla Model X Launch event, livestream - RomP
http://www.teslamotors.com/modelx#1
======
addicted
People complaining about Elon's charisma are missing a lot of Tesla's history
and brand. It has a very significant customer base that almost consider
themselves part of the company (e.g. throwing parties for employees at a Tesla
store). Part of the reason is because Elon Musk treats these events not as a
marketing presentation but basically like someone showing off their latest
creation to their family (a lot of customers are invited to the events).

Also, Tesla is seeing awesome success right now, but there was a time (pre
Model S) when Elon Musk was basically begging customers to trust him and keep
their preorders because they were close to going bankrupt (eventually a govt
loan combined with the faith those customers placed in Elon Musk is what saved
them). He had enough charisma to convince a significant chunk of people to
give him a significant amount of money when it was looking like the company
would not even be there a few months from then. Tesla's brand is that they
genuinely care for their customers (and I have not seen any reason to
disbelieve that so far), and Elon Musk's presentations while not spiffy help
reinforce that.

------
yekim
Caught the tail end of the event. Elon definitely comes across as genuine and
a real person. That said, a little practice in the stage presence /
showmanship department could certainly help things flow smoother and amp up
the excitement a bit; something this brand and its cars deserve!

~~~
rootlocus
That's an odd expression: "comes across as genuine and a real person". Aren't
we all real? Is this a fantasy?

~~~
tdylan
Genuine as compared to other CEOs talking about their products. See: recent
talk by Blackbery CEO.

~~~
foota
or how about the adobe CEO trying to defend their product's costs in
Australia?

------
sergiotapia
He's claiming 6% possibility of injury during high speed collision. Imagine
any other CEO saying something similar for their product - Elon is the man!

Any other suit would say "Five star" over and over.

~~~
vinay427
(EDIT: It appears that the crash test rating was also mentioned. I really
should watch the presentation before commenting next time; sorry folks.)

I haven't heard the actual presentation yet so perhaps I'm missing some
context but:

How exactly is stating a percentage any better than a crash test rating? At
least the rating gives you something to compare with (other vehicles) and the
tests themselves are well-documented and reasonably well-designed. I would
have no idea what to do with a percentage, so it seems like he has replaced a
buzzword (crash test ratings) that means something with a buzzword
(possibility of injury during high speed collision) that doesn't provide a
point of reference.

~~~
sergiotapia
You don't see how one looks better than the other?

"Stay with us at our 5-star hotel!"

"Stay with us, there's a 6% chance you will get hurt if there's an accident!"

~~~
goatforce5
Yes, at one point he literally used the word 'death'. Don't remind people that
your product might one day kill them!

Then he had a slide that showed how you would die early by living in a big
city. The first ~10 minutes was a real downer.

After they spent all of that time on all the things that could kill you, they
didn't once show the drivers seating area which seemed like a real omission.

(And, yes. I like Elon. I like Tesla. I own a teeny tiny amount of TSLA stock.
I'd be sorely tempted to get a Model S if I had somewhere to charge it. )

~~~
36erhefg
People die in crashes, they don't like to breathe smog, they prioritize
_their_ safety. All cars "kill", that is an established fact, but we also need
to transport ourselves whether we like it or not. Here is a car that is,
compared to other cars, safer in those areas by a large margin. Wanna buy it?

------
36erhefg
The doors opening in that narrow space; crowd went insane.

Livestream link:
[http://livestream.com/accounts/4186560/events/4387735/player](http://livestream.com/accounts/4186560/events/4387735/player)

~~~
dskhatri
In the tight parking spot scenario, how does the driver get out of the car?

~~~
tsotha
If there's space between the front seats you could get through that way.

~~~
36erhefg
Err, kinda:
[https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.thecarconnection.com/lrg/tes...](https://s3.amazonaws.com/images.thecarconnection.com/lrg/tesla-
model-x-at-2013-detroit-auto-show_100415431_l.jpg)

You would have to be pretty athletic and not too big.

~~~
tsotha
Yeah, the console sort of makes that route impractical, doesn't it?

------
Plough_Jogger
It's important to note - these events happen on MST, not PST. That's 'Musk'
Standard Time.

------
Zaheer
Elon Musk is a terrible speaker but it works because he's so genuine.

~~~
TheHydroImpulse
He's not terrible, just a bit rough. I find his presentations far more
appealing than any "perfect" presentation companies like Google, Apple or
Facebook make.

He also doesn't fluff anything up or over sell anything. He tells the facts in
a way people can understand and that's it.

~~~
h43k3r
I have watched Google IO, WWDC etc many times. Speaker come and speak fluently
about a teeny tiny feature for half an hour.

Elon on the other side is plain and direct. The halts and the roughness
actually makes me more attentive because of the change.

------
Niksko
The Model 3 will be my first car, unless my circumstances necessitate that I
have one sooner. The stuff that Tesla is doing is just so bonkers cool. Not
only that though, I'm sure it's going to be safe, reliable and fast.

~~~
tdylan
I hope it's release on time, but Musk doesn't have the best track record when
it comes to timing.

------
nikkwong
Been waiting 45 minutes now. Some updates are available on

[http://fortune.com/2015/09/29/live-tesla-model-x-
event/](http://fortune.com/2015/09/29/live-tesla-model-x-event/)

------
dmcginty
I admire Tesla as a company, but I can't help but wonder why they still have
Elon Musk do the entire presentation himself. Sure, he's their superstar, but
he comes off as a very underprepared public speaker. I wish they had him do an
introduction, and then have a spokesperson do the bulk of the talking.
Instead, he's showing off these new and amazing products with nearly no
charisma and enthusiasm.

~~~
IBM
Made me cringe when customers came up to drive off with their cars. Really
felt like a Samsung tier presentation.

~~~
addicted
Keep in mind the audience is largely filled with customers and people who have
placed preorders.

Tesla's launches and reveals are largely Employees + Customers with some press
thrown in.

------
intopieces
If the crowd keeps cheering every time Musk takes a breath, it's going to be a
long night. Imagine if they did this at the board meetings.

------
bhauer
Late as usual. If any Tesla event ever starts on time, I'm going to miss the
beginning because I won't tune in for 30 minutes.

~~~
nerdy
First time trying to watch one of their events for me, figured I already
missed it and wondered why their stream was still running.

~~~
condescendence
Did the exact same thing, 40 mins in and nada...

------
rebootthesystem
The car looks absolutely beautiful. Sadly, as much as I want to go electric, I
have no use for it, at $140K for an SUV I expect a lot more than this.

I think the falcon doors solve a non-existing problem while parking. I can't
remember the last time this was an issue, with or without kids, with or
without cargo or bags on the back seat of either an SUV or a minivan.

The same is true of the third row seat. We've had both SUV's and minivans with
third rows. Never an issue, even for adults.

The falcon wings are very cool from a technological perspective but a complete
non-starter for me. Bikes, surfboards and other stuff need to go on a roof
rack. I can't see any way to transport our Maas rowing shells on this thing.
They are 24 feet long and have to go on the roof. I've even brought home 2x4's
and sheets of plywood from Home Depot on top of SUV's and minivans.

Can you open the falcon wing doors by hand if you have no power? I'd be
surprised if this was not possible.

Towing is another aspect of this car that is likely to disappoint outside of a
stage. If anyone expects to be able to do 250 miles while towing a 5,000 lbs
trailer on anything other than an absolutely flat road with a 60 mile per hour
tail winds they are going to be disappointed. As drag increases so will
current draw and electrical losses, which will be constant and very
significant. Weight is more of a factor on non-flat roads, which is nearly
100% of them anywhere I've been. I'd be surprised if the actual range while
towing is much more than half the rated non-towing range.

What's good?

Crash performance is fantastic!

HEPA filter: Unreal. Nice.

It looks amazing.

It's electric!

I sincerely think Tesla should have come up with a new acronym for Model X:
LUV - Luxury Utility Vehicle. That, no doubt, it is.

~~~
threeseed
Tesla really needs to earn the title of luxury.

The S-model really does have one of the worst interiors I've seen on a brand
new car at any price. They really need to hire someone from Land Rover or
Mercedes to understand what luxury actually looks like. They can't use the
cheap plastics and leather and expect people to look at it as a luxury car.
It's a shame when the exterior is so well designed.

~~~
greglindahl
You've made this complaint repeatedly in HN threads, but it doesn't seem that
many reviewers or Tesla customers agree with you.

~~~
mikeyouse
Many reviewers have shared the same sentiment actually.. One such example from
Ars where they seem satisfied with the newer interior but repeatedly reference
how bad the original Model S interior was;

[http://arstechnica.com/cars/2015/05/review-teslas-new-
model-...](http://arstechnica.com/cars/2015/05/review-teslas-new-model-
s-p85d-double-your-engines-double-your-fun/)

~~~
greglindahl
Huh. Given that the only thing that's changed in the interior is new seat
options, one wonders why they changed their minds? I think I'll stick with the
opinion of buyers.

------
rdl
Curious how much the Whole Foods bags from the frunk cost as a product
placement.

~~~
loceng
I took it as Tesla trying to connect with Whole Foods' demographic.

~~~
tsotha
Yep. People with money who're going to be receptive to the "sustainability"
pitch.

~~~
codezero
Why's that in quotes? It's definitely one of their explicit pitches, and
there's a solid demographic of people who care about sustainability and the
environment, especially amongst people buying all electric cars.

~~~
tsotha
I didn't mean that to be interpreted as scare quotes, rather that there's a
lot that goes into that concept that isn't reflected in the word itself.

~~~
codezero
Ah ok, I'm a bit scarred on the Internets I guess, making assumptions about
simple quotes. Thanks for clarifying =)

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e28eta
I found a Periscope stream on Twitter, keeping an eye on that to know when the
event starts.

Hitting play on the live stream logs a 403 forbidden from Akamai on the
official stream, I'm not confident it'll work when there's actually some
content.

~~~
cloudwalking
I do wish they had used YouTube for live stream, instead of livestream.com,
like SpaceX. Less janky.

~~~
Corrado
This seems to be a good capture on YouTube.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUz_EXSmp9w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUz_EXSmp9w)

------
gesman
I'm on the market for a car in Bay area and was considering Tesla until met
with somewhat uninspiring people at Tesla dealership delivering conversation
in kind of "Yes. No. Thank you" manner leaving me with impression that they
were busy with something more interesting than my presence and hoping i won't
keep asking these stupid questions about tesla cars.

Were i suppose to make an appointment to avoid being an intrusion factor? Not
sure how it works there.

Their self-guided, touch screen TV was way more entertaining but not enough to
convince me to become customer though.

~~~
greglindahl
Sounds like you want to buy from salespeople on commission.

~~~
gesman
I don't mind paying for good service, whatever way it was delivered.

Good service followed by the good product seems like a win win, unless of
course some links in this chain are not "as good".

~~~
greglindahl
Tesla's non-commissioned showroom employees are a lot less pushy than
commissioned car salespeople. Maybe you prefer the latter.

------
tsotha
Looks nice. Is this really an SUV, though? It looks like a sedan.

~~~
csours
A lot of SUVs are basically raised sedans. Only the very largest SUVs have
fundamental differences from "cars" \- Expedition, Escalade, Tahoe, etc.

Disclaimer: I work for GM.

Side note: no one will get away with building shit after this. And thats a
GOOD THING.

~~~
semi-extrinsic
No, a lot of SUVs are basically raised _estate cars_. This is a raised sedan.
When Mercedes did the same thing and said the new MLC (which looks identical
to a Model X) is an SUV they got laughed at. When Tesla does it it's
apparently all-OK.

But really, they couldn't build a "proper" electric SUV, the poor aerodynamics
would kill the range of a car which already has ~20% less range than the Model
S.

------
bane
Not just available now, but the cars are being given directly to the initial
buyers right on stage.

------
butwhy
He seemed to get a bit technical when talking about filters. I wish he had
been more clear and described exactly what the use of filters were to normal
people. In that when you're in the vehicle, you'll be breathing in less toxins
emitted by other vehicles etc.

~~~
oska
> you'll be breathing in less toxins emitted by other vehicles etc

Yes, air pollution from ICE cars (petrol and diesel) and all other sources of
pollution.

I think they are touting this with an eye to the China market, where many
people have air filtration systems within their homes and apartments. This
means that they will be able to have good quality air when they are in their
cars too.

------
cloudwalking
Tesla events always start late. Powerwall event started 40 minutes late.

------
flyrain
Anybody knows the price?

~~~
rubberbandage
If they haven’t already updated the website, it’s priced about $5000 more than
a comparable-spec Model S:
[https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/639170376186990592](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/639170376186990592)

------
stefanix
First time I have seen a HEPA filter as a central feature of a car. Tesla
certainly understands the main reason people buy SUVs: feel safer

------
phillco
Is there a reason why Tesla events happen at night?

~~~
erikpukinskis
It's basically a party for their longtime supporters.

------
rdl
Finally it starts, 52 minutes late.

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condescendence
Beautiful and everything so far, but looks and demeanor wise it's like a full
size car.

~~~
hkmurakami
Yup. Saw one driving around their HQ recently and it was a rather large
vehicle.

------
nsxwolf
So that was the launch, and there's still no price?

~~~
codeulike
They've announced prices for the full loaded expensive models. And they're
expensive. The entry level models are coming later. Elon said an X will be
about $5000 more than the equivalent S
([https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/639170376186990592](https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/639170376186990592)).
So if they release a 70D version it will be about $80,000 before incentives
are taken off.

------
abhv
so who were the VIPs who took possession? I heard that he mentioned "Sergey"
as the owner for vin 3. I didnt recognize the others.

~~~
tdylan
Only recognised the last one. It's Steve Jurvetson, from DFJ. He got the one
of the first Model S's. Also invested in Tesla.

~~~
mikeyouse
"Also invested in Tesla" is a bit short... He's on the board at both Tesla and
SpaceX (DFJ gave both tens of millions of dollars).. According to his Twitter
/ Flickr feed, he's probably the world's biggest Musk fan, and probably not
just because his investments with Elon made him hundreds of millions in
personal wealth.

~~~
tdylan
Well aware of the history, did not find it immediately relevant. Also, Steve
doesn't sell shares of most/any of the companies he invests in, he donates
them.

~~~
mikeyouse
Apologies if that came off rude, I get a bit excited with SJ.. I'm almost as
much of a Steve Jurvetson fan as many others are Elon Musk fans.. the dude is
amazing. He should probably start delivering some of the Tesla event speeches,
he's well-spoken but every bit as technical as Elon.

~~~
tdylan
Didn't think it was rude at all. For what it's worth I enjoy Steve's talks
more than Elon's, I think it's fair to say he's the smartest VC out there.
Incredible breadth of intellect, and from what it seems, a really cool guy.

------
CookieMon
Anyone know a link that doesn't require Flash?

~~~
bhauer
Given it may be another 30 minutes until it starts, you might have time to
snapshot one of your VMs, install Flash in that VM, watch the event, and then
rollback to your snapshot.

Oh wait, it's starting right now.

------
aianus
It has a zombie apocalypse mode? I'm sold!

------
astrojams
The automatic opening front door is cool

~~~
tsotha
Little slow, though. I'd rather wrench open the door manually than wait for
that thing. When Musk demoed it he slid in sideways so it wasn't so obvious.

~~~
stock_toaster
Probably door sensors doing

    
    
       1: omg is there something next to me?
       2: nope! ok..open door a bit more..
       3: goto 1
    

I imagine the door flying open and bonking into things would be far more
upsetting to customers than a slow one that you can open by hand to speed up
the process.

------
g8gggu89
It's 8:52 now, wtf is going on?

------
elevensies
Starts at 19:30 on the player.

------
c54
Starting now!

------
curiousjorge
8pm PACIFIC

it's now 8:42pm PACIFIC.

