Suspicious, perhaps, is when the Model S P85D was evaluated at Consumer Reports’ test track in Connecticut, it initially earned a 103-point score in a system that by definition doesn’t go past 100.
In an embargoed release yesterday, now noted here, Consumer Reports reached the point of absurdity over its claim that the Tesla Model S is the best-performing car that it has ever tested. Upping the fan magazine ante surrounding Tesla coverage, Consumer Reports now says that the Tesla P85D variant has been “upgraded to an overall test score of 100 points,” setting a new CR record.
Earlier this month, Tesla Motors, Wall Street’s and Consumer Reports darling, posted its latest quarterly loss on sales of 11,532 Model S cars. Tesla’s Q2 non-GAAP loss was $61 million, or -$0.48 per share based on 126.7 million basic shares. The Tesla Q2 GAAP loss was $184 million or a loss of -$1.45 per basic share. GAAP Revenue was $878 million. The upshot was an operating loss $47 million, said Tesla, or –$4,000 per EV sold.
Two years ago, the Model S earned a 99-point score from Consumer Reports; the P85D is the only car to score 100 in the current ratings system. The second highest performing vehicle in the large luxury car category after the P85D is the Mercedes-Benz S550, which scored a 96.
Suspicious, perhaps, is when the Model S P85D was evaluated at Consumer Reports’ test track in East Haddam, Connecticut, it initially earned a raw 103-point score in a system that by definition doesn’t go past 100. Consumer Reports says it had to “make changes to its scoring methodology” to account for the car’s performance. Uhm…
Consumer Reports engineers found the P85D’s acceleration makes it the quickest car the organization – which sells magazines – has ever tested at 3.5 seconds zero to 60 mph.
“That the Tesla can achieve such performance while being very energy efficient is perhaps the most impressive feature of the car,” CR said. The 85-kWh battery in CR’s original Model S test car gets the equivalent of 84 mpg by CR’s reckoning. The faster, higher-performance P85D is allegedly more efficient, delivering the equivalent of 87 mpg Consumer Reports said.
