Eyes Without a Face: Restyled Tesla Model S Revealed

by Steph Willems

April 12th, 2016 2:22 PM

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.

The Tesla logo sits triumphantly above the newly blank space, flanked by LED headlights, while the lower fascia remains relatively unchanged (minus a slight increase in the size of the lower opening).

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]

#ElectricVehicles #Environment #EVs #Green #Lease #Leasing #ModelS #NewVehicles #Tesla #TeslaModelS

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 58 comments

285exp on Apr 13, 2016

Looks like Lightning McQueen.

Like Reply
Philadlj on Apr 13, 2016

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.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Jeff S I don't believe gm will die but that it will continue to shrink in product and market share and it will probably be acquired by a foreign manufacturer. I doubt gm lacks funds as it did in 2008 and that they have more than enough cash at hand but gm will not expand as it did in the past and the emphasis is more on profitability and cutting costs to the bone. Making gm a more attractive takeover target and cut costs at the expense of more desirable and reliable products. At the time of Farago's article I was in favor of the Government bailout more to save jobs and suppliers but today I would not be in favor of the bailout. My opinions on gm have changed since 2008 and 2009 and now I really don't care if gm survives or not.
Kwik_Shift I was a GM fan boy until it ended in 2013 when I traded in my Avalanche to go over to Nissan.
Stuart de Baker I didn't bother to read this article. I'll wait until a definitive headline comes out, and I'll be surprised if Tesla actually produces the Cybertruck. It certainly looks impractical for both snowy and hot sunny weather.
Stuart de Baker This is very interesting information. I was in no danger of buying a Tesla. I love my '08 Civic (stick), and it feels just as responsive as when I bought it 11 years ago with 35k on the clock (now 151k), and barring mishaps, I plan to keep it for the next 25 years or so, which would put me into my mid-90s, assuming I live that long. On your information, I will avoid renting Teslas.
RHD The only people who would buy this would be those convinced by a website that they are great, and order one sight-unseen. They would have to have be completely out of touch with every form of media for the last year. There might actually be a few of these people, but not very many. They would also have to be completely ignorant of the Hyundai Excel. (Vinfast seems to make the original Excel look like a Camry in comparison.)