Tesla Raises The Bar With Model S Beta

Pictured above is the Tesla Model S "Alpha". The Beta model, pictured below, shows further styling development. Here we are in late 2011, and that means that deliveries of the Tesla Model S are less than a year away.

All is going ahead to plan, and this past weekend Tesla held preview events for journalists and buyers at its plant in Fremont, California. Some have said Tesla's promises will be highly difficult to deliver upon. One such person is Dan Neil of The Los Angeles Times, who bet Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk that he wouldn't be able to deliver the car by 2012.

If Musk fails, he must give $1,000,000 to a charity. If he wins, Neil has to donate $1,000. A bit lopsided, don't you think? The terms of the deal are numerous and state that deliveries must take place by 2012, with the same announced pricing structure intact, a four- or five-star NHSTA crash rating and the ability to seat seven passengers. With the the Model S Beta, Tesla is actually raising the bar over previous promises though with two iterations of the Model S focused on performance and efficiency.

For those who didn't think 5.5-seconds to 60 mph was fast enough, Tesla will be releasing a Model S sport that takes that down to "under 4.5 seconds." Another model that has special aerodynamic wheels will boost range on the top-shelf model from 300 miles to 320. Tesla is sticking to its range estimates. Hopefully they will pan out in real life; that remains to be seen. These two models will likely cost more than their standard counterparts , and we aren't sure if they are available for the 160 and 230 mile models as well.