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They spent years and untold amounts of money on the body design. They cannot change it without affecting their drag coefficient and killing their max range. The body design is part of the magic that makes the Tesla possible.

edit: drove my friend's Model S down the highway at 75mph and put down the windows. No air entered the cabin. We sliced through the air like a hot knife through butter. It was remarkable. Also consider that they are legislating to get the requirement for side mirrors removed. If they replace them with cameras they gain 7% more range.

afaik Tesla is the most aerodynamic road legal car in the USA



Well it's also because they try to make the car look as "normal" as possible. For example, the inclusion of a useless grill in the earlier model s. If they truly embraced the operational qualities of an electric car and rid themselves of lineages to standard vehicles, they could have designed something that's truly unique, true to the electric locomotion, and not end up with this random mix of design elements with ugly result


Having a smooth, grill-less front is a welcome invitation to road/rock chips. These things are going to look like 80's Camry's with the lower price tag and "normal" driving habits of the plebs.


Just due to surface area, I would wager a CRX might be better...

Edit, tesla is better. .24 vs the CRXs .29 wow.


Merc E class has CD of .23.

Styling wise (even factoring in the perspective of the beholder) is worlds ahead of anything from Tesla.

http://autoweek.com/article/car-reviews/2017-mercedes-benz-e...




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