IT'S HERE

TESLA DELIVERS ITS FIRST COMPACT LUXURY ELECTRIC SUV. WE DRIVE IT.

- MARK RECHTIN

Now we’ll see if Tesla is truly an automaker to be reckoned with. Over the course of the past decade, Elon Musk and his Wall Street backers have spent billions of dollars, and the main Tesla factory has manufactured hundreds of thousands of vehicles. Profits have been elusive. But all that has merely been the prologue to now.

What is arriving this year is Tesla’s confrontation of the mass market, of what American car shoppers want to buy: a compact SUV. That the Tesla Model Y happens to be powered by batteries will be the true test of consumer acceptance of the changing environment for automotive propulsion.

Some may argue Musk proved himself and his approach to electric vehicles with the Model S sedan. It was the MotorTrend 2013 Car of the Year when most everyone else scoffed at its audacity.