Tesla’s First SUV Will Hit the Road Early Next Year

Tesla Motors will begin shipping its first SUV early next year, the company revealed in an email to customers this week.

The Model X, which was first unveiled more than two years ago, is still on schedule to be delivered in early 2015, Tesla says — for customers who reserved it in advance, anyway.

The Model X will retain many of its prototype features that initially got car fans excited. The SUV’s signature falcon doors, which open upward instead of outward, will make it to the final version of the vehicle, as will all-wheel drive and optional third-row seating.

Right now Tesla’s flagship vehicle is the Model S, which sold about 22,500 units in 2013. The company is still scaling up the production of the Model S; it will likely take the rollout of the Model X slowly as well.