4 ms·

Seven seats car seems to address a very small niche.

• giarc 11y ago
  Most SUVs are seven seaters. Even most minivan's are now 7 seater.
  • ghaff 11y ago
    "Most" is a bit of an overstatement. (Fortunately) many SUVs still don't have third-row seating. To be honest, I find the shift from minivans--which do a much better job of seating a bunch of people--to SUVs that consume a lot of interior space with seats a bit unfortunate.
    • giarc 11y ago
      "Most" as in the direct competition to the Model X. Yes, some manufacturers have large 8 seaters (Yukon, QX56, Pilot, Sequoia) but those are all massive vehicles and I don't think the Model X is competing with those. I think the competition is the smaller SUVs such as the Q7, SRX, MDX,GX, X5, GL550, and XC90, all of which are 7 seaters.
  • cpwright 11y ago
    The pilot is pretty popular as an 8 seater. It's rear seats fold flat giving you a reasonable cargo area when you don't have the 3 people in the third row. The seats themselves aren't very cramped, but getting in/out is not great.
    • giarc 11y ago
      I'm not sure many Pilot buyers will also be Model X buyers ($30K vs $100K)
      • cpwright 11y ago
        The $30K vs. $100K isn't the real comparison though. The pilot starts at $30K, but goes to $48K. The MDX is only 7 seats, but is also basically a Pilot for $58K. A Model X should come in around $80K, assuming it is just a bit more than a comparable Model S, which starts at $70K. I think one of the things the Model S has done is get someone who might spend $50K on a car to spend quite a bit more than otherwise, because of its coolness factor. I think the Model X will do the same thing, and get people who would otherwise drive something less expensive (in the $50-60K range) to reach upwards to $80K or so because of the cool/wow factor. I've got a Pilot now; and like it. I need to see the X in person. Right now the falcon wing doors are not a selling point for me and lack of rear-seat entertainment system make it less compelling than it otherwise might be for the money.
• flurdy 11y ago
  Yes, not that many have a lot kids, or kids with friends, or visiting grand parents... :) But yes it is a niche, but not small. There is a lot of 7 mvp cars where I live, Vauhall Zafiras, XC90s etc. And in most of these the third row seats are cramped pop up seats.
• degenerate 11y ago
  Not really. The average family + 1 friend "just" fits in a 5-seater SUV. Having a 7-seater means being able to bring along more than one person. "Hey, we can all ride together!" becomes a very normal part of conversation. Bundle that with the fact that everyone can ride together and everyone saves 100% money on gas, well, it's a no-brainer people will start carpooling more since there are more seats.
  • jannotti 11y ago
    "no-brainer people will start carpooling more" ? I don't think people buying Teslas will start carpooling any time soon.
• jkestner 11y ago
  Number of seats is a unit of capacity. You can put things in that space other than people.
• shogun21 11y ago
  Most people who have the money to buy it don't have the amount of kids to fill it!
• uniformlyrandom 11y ago
  Yes, that niche is called 'SUVs'.