Leak! Tesla Model S pics surface on web ahead of today's debut
by John Neff on Mar 26th 2009 at 12:59PM 
Tesla Model S – Click above for high-res image gallery
Tesla has a big media event planned today at 12PM PST to unveil the new Model S sedan. That plan has been blow out of the water a bit thanks to social media mogul Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg.com, who has uploaded what appear to be a few official images of the all-electric sedan on his Flickr page. We get two views of the car's backside, which looks to crib design cues from modern day Jaguars and Aston Martins. The new XF comes most readily to mind, and while the Model S may be charged with being too heavily influenced by the leaping cat brand, that doesn't take away from the fact that it still looks stunning.
We also have a view of what appears to be an incomplete interior of the Model S, and the most striking element is a center stack comprised entirely of a screen. While we have no details on the car yet, it appears the Model S may feature configurable controls for most of the car's systems (HVAC, audio, etc.) on this large, touch-sensitive display.
Tesla has already revealed that the anticipated base price of the Model S will be $57,400, but will drop to below $50,000 with a federal tax credit of $7,500. We'll be at the unveiling later today and bring back live pictures of the Model S.
Gallery: Tesla Model S
[Source: Flickr]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
meshies 1:03PM (3/26/2009)
Looks good but... WTF IS IN THE DASH?
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jrhmobile 1:04PM (3/26/2009)
That's your new car firing the Blue Screen of Death. Ain't it awesome?
BoneHeadOtto 2:01PM (3/26/2009)
looks like they have a large monitor behind the central dash that will be covered so that items like the Hvac can have graphical readouts that are not rectangular. Just my guess
AC 3:24PM (3/26/2009)
I hope they are not using windows >
Trace 3:31PM (3/31/2009)
Model S(exy) on the outside, Model T on the inside.
Are they actually building and delivering cars yet?
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Patrick 1:05PM (3/26/2009)
Wow. Beautiful. But, as stated, very Jaguar XF-ish. The window line also looks like the Mazda6 and Aston Martin Rapide a bit. Lorinser wheels. I feel like the front is going to look like the Hyundai Genesis...we'll see.
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KeatMP 1:10PM (3/26/2009)
I was about to say it looks like an XF Jaguar.
James 1:11PM (3/26/2009)
You beat me to it. My very first thought, was Jag XF.
geo.stewart 1:37PM (3/26/2009)
MY question is what are they suing Fisker over? This looks really good. and call it derivative if you want but all of Fisker's designs are similar (which I love).
I can't see where Fisker was holding back.
thorani 1:06PM (3/26/2009)
looks like they raided MB parts bin. CLS steering wheel, and cruise control. Also looks like the traditional MB instrument panel. HMMMMMM.
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Jtnab 2:16PM (3/26/2009)
yes, the turn/cruise stalks look straight from MB.
chuck 2:54PM (3/26/2009)
Could be cause the prototype is built on a Mercedes CLS donor car...
Luis 1:08PM (3/26/2009)
It looks great! I think the interior screen was just a test!
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ronzo 1:09PM (3/26/2009)
perddy!
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garlinski 1:11PM (3/26/2009)
WHOA!
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ramen 1:11PM (3/26/2009)
Absolutely gorgeous.
It looks a lot like the Jaguar XF though...
http://carzpage.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/jaguar_xf_2009_dw.jpg
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A.N.E. 4:48PM (3/26/2009)
Beautiful profile.
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Epyx 1:12PM (3/26/2009)
And the celebrities and rich greenies jumped for joy and exclaimed "Finally I can stop driving that plebeian Toyota!"
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I3ziko 1:13PM (3/26/2009)
You can clearly see ex-Mazdas Franz von Holzhausens influance in this model...
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DJ 1:14PM (3/26/2009)
Somebody needs to really lower the decibel level when trumpeting that tax credit. Few, if any Tesla customers will receive the entire $7500 credit due to IRS income restrictions and other tax code complexities.
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