Tesla Model S P85D, S85D shows off at 2015 Detroit Auto Show

Tesla's stand at the Detroit Auto Show  included both its newest and highest-performance version of the Model S--the P85D--and the standard S85D model. The two cars on display represented the first time that the latest versions of the Tesla Model S had appeared at any global auto show.

|
Rebecca Cook/Reuters/File
A Tesla Model S electric car is displayed during the second press day of the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan January 13, 2015. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

Tesla Motors has shown off its Model S electric luxury sport sedan at the Detroit AutoShow since 2011.

This year, its stand included both its newest and highest-performance version of the Model S--the P85D--and the standard S85D model, featuring all-wheel drive without the high-performance package.

The two cars on display represented the first time that the latest versions of the Model S had appeared at any global auto show.

Tesla didn't hold a press event at this year's Detroit Auto Show, but CEO Elon Musk participated in an interview at the Automotive News World Congress seminar that followed the media preview days on Monday and Tuesday.

Musk spoke about Tesla's Chinese sales (lower than expected) and challenged Detroit to produce more electric cars, faster.

Those comments will be covered in a separate article.

That 2011 Detroit Auto Show was a watershed of sorts for Tesla.

The prototype body shell on its stand first demonstrated to skeptics that the upcoming Model S would be a properly engineered, all-aluminum large sedan with a wide, flat battery pack under its floor.

Engineers, executives, and onlookers mobbed the "body in white" throughout the show, measuring every part of it, inspecting the crash structures, and estimating the passenger and powertrain space.

Even Akio Toyoda, the recently appointed new CEO of Toyota, was photographed inspecting the Model S-in-the-making.:

The Detroit show this year was otherwise notable for the unexpected appearance of the Chevrolet Bolt, a concept for a 200-mile electric subcompact hatchback that is expected to sell for $37,500 before incentives.

Otherwise, the Acura NSX and Ford GT performance cars and a pair of new pickup trucks--the Nissan Titan and Toyota Tacoma--were the product highlights of a bustling and optimistic show.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Tesla Model S P85D, S85D shows off at 2015 Detroit Auto Show
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2015/0114/Tesla-Model-S-P85D-S85D-shows-off-at-2015-Detroit-Auto-Show
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe