Tesla Tests Crossover Market With Model X

Tesla's Model X shows the company is growing up, or at least making larger and larger electric cars.

Image: Tesla

It’s not as if building an electric crossover is new for Tesla. After all, the Northern California electric carmaker owes at least a portion of its existence to a deal to do just that with Toyota.

But now, Tesla is building a swagger wagon of its own, the Model X.

Tesla founder Elon Musk introduced the company’s latest offering—it debuted with a high-performance roadster and followed up with the Model S sedan slated to hit the market by July—at a press event at the company’s Southern California studios Thursday.

The introduction of another model, this one aimed straight at the family market, shows that Tesla, though nowhere near the size or scope of such established automakers as GM or Ford, is hanging in there and expanding the type of vehicle that can go all-electric.

Kim Reynolds, writing for MotorTrend, reports:

As Musk quipped, "I don't think a car company should be a one-trick pony." The Model X gives Tesla a couple of tricks up its sleeve. And moreover reinforces a brand-new EV proposition in the marketplace that the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi i don't provide—the long-range battery-electric car that isn't limited to neighborhoods or stratospherically priced. With deliveries of the Model S slated for no later than July, we'll soon see if the market is ready for that proposition.

It’s also a natural expansion for Tesla. The company has already teamed with Toyota, the world’s second-largest automaker, to create an all-electric version of the Toyota crossover RAV-4. That vehicle is being produced in Canada.