Tesla Model X

IT’S ALMOST A given that a new model from Tesla will be considered a car that significantly alters the face of the motor industry. Tesla is demonstrating that it isn’t just how many cars you sell that changes opinions and makes an impact, but the kinds of cars you sell, too. The Model S made electric propulsion appealing like no other car before it. It has made it credible like no electric car before it. And its ludicrous acceleration made us giggle like no electric – or other – car before it.

Now the Model X carries on what the Model S started. It’s a seven-seat SUV, of a fashion (although don’t go mistaking it for a 4x4 that likes offroading), with that remarkable Tesla blend of technologies and features that at once seem outlandish yet are here, right now, and fit into your daily life remarkably easily. And that’s the thing: while some car makers show features like the Model X’s on concept cars, or say they’re coming years into the future, Tesla is just pushing them now: self-driving hardware and software, falcon doors that would seem absurd if introduced by anyone else and electric propulsion as the mainstream daily power source.

It doesn’t please everybody, and there are times when it might not always succeed, but Tesla’s is the kind of bravery that deserves attention, and the Model X is the kind of game-changing car that deserves recognition.