Sliding door gravity?

[Gravitas]

One thing is for certain; in late-2021/early-2022, there was a reassessment of the Gravity design. None of us really know what changed. But the reveal next week will be different from the Alpha prototypes we've been seeing driving around California. Hence why Gravity's SOP has been delayed by 1 year.

 

[xponents]

One thing is for certain; in late-2021/early-2022, there was a reassessment of the Gravity design. None of us really know what changed. But the reveal next week will be different from the Alpha prototypes we've been seeing driving around California. Hence why Gravity's SOP has been delayed by 1 year.

Wait, the alpha prototypes reflect the reassessment. The older design is that flat back one that was teased during the airs reveal.

 

[joec]

Wait, the alpha prototypes reflect the reassessment. The older design is that flat back one that was teased during the airs reveal.

The final product and the prototypes will definitely be different. Not as different as that original flat back one. But the prototypes were definitely not the final product. Thus prototype.

 

[Drendino]

I was browsing the forum when I found a thread about gravity. Another user found a video with a frame of gravity's plannings in them:

View attachment 16062

Direct your attention to the black background picture at the top. To the right, it shows a three row configuration with one front door open... and what looks to be a sliding door to the rear.

God, please no. This will RUIN the gravity's reputation. Sliding doors are very nice functionally, but they are associated with minivans which the gravity should not be known for. This may lessen sales.
I just hope this prototype was just that, and does NOT make it to production. In other threads though, we have found evidence of sliding doors on the alpha... this isnt boding well.

This didn’t age well?

 

[jcbrown]

Side-hinged doors have been on vehicles since the horse and carriage days. They are conventional because they are the easiest kind of door to engineer and manufacture, not necessarily because they are the most practical for facilitating ingress and egress in a vehicle.

The next easiest door to design and manufacture is probably the "suicide door" which made a return with Rolls Royce after 2000 and a more recent return in the Lincoln Continental, now that clamshell and blocking locks have made them safe. Getting into and out of a rear seat is easier with these doors than with forward-hinged doors, but they are difficult to reach when closing them without power assist. And, like conventional doors, they require a good bit of side space to open fully enough for an easy climb in and out.

The next easiest door to design and manufacture is probably the gullwing, which looks cool in ads but is a real annoyance to use in many settings.

Then comes the sliding rear door. Given how many years it took manufacturers to figure out a way to hide the track rails, they seem to be hard to design well and quite complicated to manufacture. However, they can allow for very wide openings (particularly useful for 3-row vehicles) and require the least side space outside the vehicle to open fully.

Finally comes the ultra-gimmicky falcon wing doors of Model X infamy, which are notoriously complex to build, reduce the torsional rigidity of the vehicle due to their interruption of roof cantrails, and apparently still have such alignment problems that Tesla resorted to a PPF film to deal with their rubbing the paint off the door sills. Their primary utility is for entertaining the neighborhood kids (of all ages).

I have been in and out of rear seats using all of the above door types except the gullwing. Sliding doors were by far the easiest to use in the widest range of places . . . as long as they were power operated, which almost all now are.

Coach-Style Doors for Rear. Look at Honda Element as an Example. No B-Pillar.