Leak! Tesla Model S pics surface on web ahead of today's debut

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.

[Source: Flickr]