Some photos have surfaced on the internet of a car that features some Tesla-like styling cues.

So lets take a closer look at the photographs and see what we can spot.

In this first photograph we can see the front combination light design has some Tesla design DNA in the unique upwards swept shape that we see in the Model 3 and Y and how it follows the contour of the front fenders.

You can also see the detailing at the bottom of the lamp design in the camouflaged car and it looks very similar to Tesla Model 3’s lamp design.

Ther is also a lot of similarity to the bonnet surfacing treatment. the contour line that runs from the front to the base of the A-pillar looks very similar.

The front bumper also has some strong Tesla-like features such as the slim underbreather and the positioning of the foglamps. The thin splitter like device under the air intake is also familiar as is the small air inlet under the foglamp/side indicator combo.

There appears to be an air dam below that and this is quite a well accepted way of managing underbody airflow. With Electric cars, underbody airflow is very important and this could be a way of eking out extra few kilometres per kilowatt of battery charge.

However the positioning of the side mirror and the side mirror shape is very different from the Model 3 and Y.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that it is not a Tesla but it is interesting to note. Side mirror designs are quite a challenge to aerodynamicists and companies tend to stick to a design they know that works but this could be a new design that Tesla has found to work better.

It is worth noting that the side mirror is now mounted to the door rather than the front corner of the side windows and we do see some germans moving their side mirrors to the doors for aerodynamic benefits.

Apparently mounting the mirrors on the doors creates better airflow as it sits a bit further away from the base of the A-pillar which is a meeting point for several surfaces and is considered an area that can easily create turbulence anyway.

We can also see the Tesla triangular rear side view camera mount behind the front wheels on the camouflaged car, but strangely we cannot spot the forward-looking B-pillar camera.

It is worth noting that the door handles are different, on the camouflaged car it does not look flush to the bodywork like all Teslas before, this could be done out of cost concern but then again they already have the door handles on the parts list so redesigning may cost a bit more money.

However these things can make a difference in terms of the cost of production over millions of units so we do not know if this is a cost redesign or functionality redesign. One thing for sure it is not likely to be a redesign to improve airflow.

I can think of one reason, pretty good reason at that, for changing the door handle design, that is to increase durability; because they are not hidden inside the bodywork there is less risk of malfunction, which could be important in a vehicle that is designed to be high usage.

If this is a product meant for the ride sharing industry then the door handle change makes sense.

The view from the rear three quarter clearly shows a Tesla-like rear lamp design. This in itself is a red flag because rarely would a car company simply slap the lamp from one model to another.

The wheels are nothing like what we have seen in Tesla today and the plastic cladding on the bottom part of the car’s sides, wheelarches and rear bumper is also a design element that we have not seen Tesla use but these could easily be due to the different nature of the product and cost reasons.

Finally the stance and ride hide of this vehicle looks very un Tesla-like to my eyes, at least from this angle.

Firstly the camo car has a ride height that is significantly higher towards the rear and it has a roof line that looks significantly different from the Model 3 or model Y in the sense that it is more angluar as it reaches the top of the A-pillar.

It is a subtle change but significant because it could have all sorts of aerodynamics as well as aesthetic impacts.

However this is also not a deal breaker if this is a low cost design meant for a different market altogether.

Like other companies, Tesla is constantly taking readings from the market and they may see a gap that is worthwhile for them to plug at this point in time, especially since their four manufacturing facilities are now in place and is slowly being ramped up.

The China market for electric vehicles is currently the biggest by far and Tesla may be chasing a bigger cut of the pie by designing a product that is more affordable there.

Affordable is affordable anywhere, a more affordable product is more sellable anywhere and this may be what this product is all about.

Either that or someone took a lot of trouble to create a car that looks like a Tesla under camo to test their own car.

Is it a Tesla model Q, I give it a probablility ranking of around 65%.

For me, the most troubling thing is the lack of B-pillar camera cutout in the spyshots.

So after a bit of sniffing around, we spotted this set of photographs from China showing a Mazda MX30 with camouflage sticker and similar Tesla headlamps and detailing.

just look at the way the rear lamps are clued to the back of the car

Apparently people do many strange things to get views and this is a pretty good effort.

Oh the other strange thing, is that it made a U-turn in the middle of a wide public road. Road testers of mules and prototypes usually have a fixed route and rarely make a silly mistake like going up the wrong road since the routes are usually pre selected and they are quite familiar with it