“The first Alpha is amazingly agile for a car of its size,” he says. “It has great handling balance and poised ride with communicative steering. Just goes to show what combining a low center of gravity with a very stiff body structure can achieve.”

Of course, you’d expect him to say that. But Sutherland came to Tesla from Lotus, so he knows a thing or two about vehicle dynamics. And we’ve taken a close look under the skin of the S and can tell you this is one meticulously engineered automobile. Tesla has at least three alpha builds, which will be used to test components and subsystems and to road-test the car. At some point it will transition to beta builds, which will be built at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California.

Now if we can get a chance behind the wheel …

Video: Tesla Motors

See Also:

• Tesla Wants Some Engineering Cred
• Tesla's Got the Factory, Now It Needs to Fill It
• How Elon Musk Turned Tesla Into the Car Company of the Future …

Authors: Chuck Squatriglia

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