Eyes Without a Face: Restyled Tesla Model S Revealed
Grilles are so 20th century.
As we speculated last week, Tesla has put a new face on its Model S, doing away with the faux grille designed to trick people into thinking there was something combusting under the hood.
The new front end is a corporate amalgam of the both the recently unveiled Model 3 sedan and Model X SUV. Tesla apparently thinks that society has progressed enough to accept the disappearance of an air-sucking mouth at the front of a car.
News of the facelift accompanied claims that Tesla was going to move the Model S slightly upmarket with increased interior luxury. The Model S is now available with new trim options, and a “Bioweapon Defense Mode” cabin air filtration system borrowed from the Model X is now an option.
To decrease battery fill-up times, an upgraded 48-amp charger has become standard equipment.
Tesla spent the winter offering a limited time, 36-month lease that got you into a base Model S 70 for $698. The price of a 70D is now $853/month for 36 months, with $6,548 due at signing. Owning the Tesla that made electric driving seem less than crazy is still not a cheap proposition.
Now, back to that face. Is anyone else reminded of the 1954 Kaiser Darrin?
[Images: Tesla Motors]
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Looks like Lightning McQueen.
I'm a child of the late 80's-early 90's, where grille-less cars were all over the place, so I like this look. My favorite is probably the '92 Crown Vic. The audacity Ford had to remove the grille from a car with such a hoity-toity name...that was great: http://bit.ly/1YtOCsu I think this look would work on a great many cars with too-large bass mouths.