Tesla, the most important EV carmaker of all time, announced last night plans to finally kill off the most important EV of all time, the Tesla Model S.
It and the Model X SUV are being put out to pasture after over a decade of production to make room at Tesla’s Fremont, California, factory for production of the company’s Optimus humanoid robot.
If you’re in the market for a Model S or Model X, and for some reason haven’t bought one yet, now’s the time. Because it sounds like they’re not going to get replaced.
Why Are They Dying Now?
On last night’s earnings call, CEO Elon Musk revealed plans to axe the brand’s two largest vehicles so it could focus on other projects. From CNBC:
“It’s time to basically bring the Model S and X programs to an end with an honorable discharge,” Musk said on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call. “If you’re interested in buying a Model S and X, now would be the time to order it.”
The cars, which are both built in Fremont, will make way for an entirely new assembly line for Tesla’s Optimus robots, a product first revealed in 2021 that Tesla believes will eventually make up 80% of the company’s value in the near future.
The Importance Of The Model S Cannot Be Overstated
The Model S was first introduced in 2012 as Tesla’s second model, following the first-generation Roadster. With sleek, handsome looks and an EPA-rated range of 265 miles in P85 form (unheard of for a mass production EV in this segment at the time), it quickly rocketed in popularity among those who wanted to be eco-conscious without the stigma that comes along with being a Prius driver.
Plus, a huge central screen for the infotainment system and a 0-60 time of 4.6 seconds helped it appeal to the tech- and performance-obsessed, too. The Model S was, famously, the first vehicle—EV or otherwise—to get a perfect score on a Consumer Reports road test. Even today, an updated version of that same car still makes headlines for its acceleration numbers.
More importantly, the Model S’s broad appeal, helped drastically by Tesla’s Supercharger network, which launched that same year, brought electric vehicles into the mainstream. For the first time, people could legitimately consider purchasing an electric car and using it as their only vehicle, rather than just as a quirky toy for short weekend jaunts. The entire industry took notice, forcing other manufacturers to kick their electric vehicle programs into high gear just to keep up. The entire EV landscape you see now is a result of the Model S’s success.
Everything Has An End Point
As important as the Model S and its sister car, the Model X, are to the EV industry, they’re also both really old. In fact, they’re by far the oldest electric passenger cars on sale in America, having been for sale for 14 and 13 years now, respectively.
Both cars have undergone substantial updates to their drivetrains and batteries over the years, significantly improving their performance and range. Despite their age, both cars are still competitive in terms of range, delivering up to 410 and 352 miles of range, depending on whether you go for the sedan or SUV.
But big acceleration numbers and solid range can only do so much. The Model S, Model X, and Cybertruck combined make up roughly 3% of the company’s global sales, dwarfed by the newer, cheaper, and far more popular Model 3 and Model Y.
So it was only a matter of time until the cars were killed off, although it wasn’t obvious that at least the Model S might not be replaced. If you want a big, expensive electric Tesla, there’s always the Cybertruck, and given low demand for that product, you probably won’t have to wait to get one delivered.
Top graphic image: Tesla, ULine, Jason Torchinsky
Honestly the Model S still looks good. It’s those aggressive rear haunches, I’m a sucker for widebody kits on cars and it kinda gives that look.
If you buy an Optimus don’t come crying about how it broke all your tableware trying to load the dishwasher. Of course Elon promised an over the air update would add that feature within the year so you better buy one NOW. At this point believing that is on you.
I’m quite sure these robots are not developed for household use. Have you watched Total recall (2012)? If not, I think you should…
Have I watched total recall? hell, I read “We Can Remember it for You Wholesale” back in the 70s and still have it in a collection on the shelf. I wouldn’t worry about a robot army made up of humanoid robots, that’s silly. Robot drones and robot guns and robot boats all exist and don’t need general purpose humanoid robots to function.
Ahh, cool, selling one thing that nobody wants anymore (because it hasn’t been updated in, what, 30 years?) for something that also nobody wants.
In the future we’re all going to ride around on robots? That will be hilarious.
“Tesla, the most important EV carmaker of all time”
Tesla is the most overhyped EV maker of all time. The most important (and now largest) is BYD.
Tesla is historically significant. Their current bullshit doesn’t get rid of the fact that Tesla is the company that made EVs somewhat commonplace.
If isolating just to “influence on the market in the 2020s” then sure, I think I’d agree with you that it’s BYD. The state of EVs wouldn’t be where it is today if it weren’t for Tesla (with a product that in its earliest stages predates Musk).
From a USA centric view – yes Tesla made EVs commonplace. The same can’t be said for the rest of the world – which is much farther ahead on EV adoption.
Tesla was the first company to use performance to sell EVs as most of the competition was focused on practical commuters not performance.
I first saw a BYD vehicle at the Detroit Auto Show a bit more than 15 years ago. Even then, they didn’t seem awful.
The progress Hyundai and Kia have made in the last 15 years ago blows my mind.
Is there anything amazing the US has engineered recently? Besides costly, protectionist tariffs? Oh, there’s probably some advanced weaponry thingy.
They’re ditching the model S for Optimus? I have no need for a protocol droid. What I really need is a droid who understands the language of moisture vaporators.
My sister and bil literally called me to tell me they ordered a new model x and be a 2 model x fam (I didn’t have the energy to tell them no) hours before this announcement.
I honestly can’t think of a more boring way to spend 100k
30 Oz of gold costs the same and would be pretty boring.
But one of those would be a good long term investment.
Thank you to the Autopian writers for always presenting a fair and reasoned take.
The commenters now… vintage Jalopnik. Almost nothing but irrational hate whenever Tesla is mentioned. I’m sure I’ll catch a lot of flack for stating the obvious. I come here for the great writing, but the community can get beyond vicious.
No flak here, you tell the truth.
People are allowed to voice their opinions on the topic however they want, just like you have
I fully agree. But it has gone so far beyond that. There is no room for rational discussion. Its tribalism.
Not everyone is tribal. And that’s one thing I really like about this site. It seems like most commentators are smart and open-minded.
Howard Wolowitz made a one-armed robot. It accomplished the same thing.
Someone is definitely going to be infamous for ending up in the ER this way.
On one hand, it kinda makes sense. They’re selling so few of them that they may as well focus on the 3 and Y. If they were stopping to move those plants over to an affordable EV, that would make sense.
Robots? WTF? I don’t understand the business case.
There are companies that have spent decades trying to get a humanoid robot to work. Nothing is ready for commercial scale. And there’s one big thing that Tesla just doesn’t talk about that much, which is the reason they’re not ready. Battery life. Everybody loves Boston Dynamic’s spot, but that only has an hour or two of usable time. Their Atlas isn’t much better. How do you justify spending $20k for a robot that is only functional for hours at a time?
Tesla is probably the company to figure out batteries, but I don’t see them going from where battery life is now to the “all day” use that they’ve talked about. The only thing I can think of is that producing them at scale is more important to investors than whether they’re useful.
Never mind that’s it’s the most tone-deaf pursuit of any company today.
For a corporate customer, I’m not sure how much the battery is a detriment to Spot. Tool batteries can also go flat in about an hour of work. As long as there are batteries ready to cycle out, there should be minimal downtime.
I’m assuming a lot of the corporate bots can actually be tethered. Kinda like Amazon employees already are.
This past weekend I was pushing the shopping cart loaded with chocolate milk, Twinkies, and soda crackers out to my ND Miata and lo and behold a very blue Model S was parked next to me.
And I thought to myself, like I have a thousand other times, “Self, that is a damn good looking car”.
Tesla nailed it with the S. Perfectly sculptured and proportioned car. As beautiful and contemporary now as it was 14 years ago.
In 20 years it will still look great.
Every other Tesla is ugly.
Model X: an over inflated S.
Model 3: a mutated shrunken S.
Model Y: what the French call, “les incompetents” aesthetics. An over inflated 3.
Sorta like Porsche tried to make everything look like a 911 and thus they are all fails in the looks department.
I mean, a Macan, really??
The S is one of those rare cars that changs everything. Like the Model T, VW, Mini, and of course Yugo.
Is it the best car? Nah. Not with those death trap door handles among other things. I would never own one.
But Lordy it’s purty.
This made me sad.
I have two feet of snow on the ground, and my Miata will be on a tender for another 2 months.
Sorry about the snow.
Then I won’t tell you that I dropped the top on the way home to enjoy the 62 degree sunshine.
I feel like they had to purposely make the model 3 uglier so the S would continue to stand out.
My compliments on the Home Alone reference.
We aim to fulfill all your pop culture reference needs for a low low daily price.
How will Elon spell out “S3XY” now?
Underrated question
CYb3rtruck
“YOU’REFIRED?”
This was one of the earliest public signs that he was just a 12yo edge lord weirdo (derogatory). How did we let such a person accumulate so much wealth and power.
Soon, the Model Y will become the Model I so he can spell IC3
Shame. The Model S is the only attractive car Tesla made.
Too bad they can’t just put the Toyota Matrix/Pontiac Vibe back into production in Fremont.
Oh, they could. But it’d cost $45k for….(insert bullshit corporate excuse…tariffs…blah blah blah)…
“Oh, you wanted a robot that doesn’t need constant supervision? For that, you’ll need to buy the Full Self Walking option!”
you mean the Full Self Walking Supervised option?
Could an Optimus ride a Segway? Because that would be the real game-changer in the advancement of civilization
COTD
I recall seeing the Model S when it first came out and I really appreciated the low-key styling, handsome but understated. It looked like a car, not some “hey look at my alternative energy weirdmobile” that Prii, insights and others were doing. It looked like something a respectable adult would drive.
I still think it looks good despite being old and if there were not a crazy person at the helm, I would have seriously considered buying one. I always appreciated that the early run had a rear-facing 3rd row seat as an option in the hatch. It makes ZERO sense, but that was the sort of playful engineering that was part of the appeal.
When I see them, I can still appreciate that the original design has aged well, but I could not bring myself to actually ever own one. Shameful.
Well, buying a used one doesn’t benefit him at all and there are other charging options.
So, basically, Tesla is closing the Fremont plant for the 3rd and probably final time, but they don’t want any plant closure headlines right now, so they’re pretending this robot thing will be a big seller?
You think the Cybertruck has low demand?
Wait until they try to sell this robot.
Immigration crackdown is intended to raise demand for robot workers to do menial tasks. The detained are actually being sent to Telsa factories to be dressed up and sent out as humanoid robots. It’s all a sham just to disguise the impact of undocumented workers on the economy. Now, I need to buy a truck so I can record a YouTube video in the front seat explaining this in more detail. I do my own research!
https://www.autoweek.com/news/technology/a37359183/tesla-robot-human-in-spandex/
What about the robot Stelantis showed off that did a weeks worth of work in nine hours. More jobs lost.
I’ve done 9 hours of work in a week before. More jobs gained. 😉
Nice.
Bob Slydell: You see, what we’re actually trying to do here is, we’re trying to get a feel for how people spend their day at work… so, if you would, would you walk us through a typical day, for you?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah.
Bob Slydell: Great.
Peter Gibbons: Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door – that way Lumbergh can’t see me, heh heh – and, uh, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour.
Bob Porter: Da-uh? Space out?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah, I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I’m working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I’d say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.
https://youtu.be/BTdOHBIppx8?si=JnBDRVdlCBN9queo
The other possibility, given that Elon is consistently full of shit and loves pump & dump scams, is that he’s just trying to goose the S & X sales numbers for something related to his new incentive package. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if at the end of the quarter we get a, “Wow, what an outpouring of support! We’re gonna keep making them”-type tweet.
This is the most plausible take in the entire comment section.
Given Musk’ stated distain for California…why would he not take production to Texas where their Governor would have laid out bags and bags of development cash just for the right to bad mouth the Golden State?
BTW…there also may be a brain drain thing going on at Tesla…given the crappy boss…many smart engineers have moved on to the other silicon valley EV manufacturers (Lucid, Rivian, Waymo, Seres, Lyten, among others…and don’t count out Apple from getting back in the game) .
Apple already spent 10 years and a lot of money not making an EV. Can’t wait to see what they do next.
Tim Cook killed it off.
Cook was staring down the “Vision” disaster. Outside of gaming, there is not a large market for those goggles. Maybe some very specific professional tasks…but you are not going to wear them walking down the street (unless you like getting laughed at).
As for those glasses being marked by Meta (remember Facebook changed its name to Meta because the world was going to move into a Meta-Verse…an everyone would have a virtual avatar and we would buy Meta real estate so that we would all meet there and shop for everything…yeah…I thought so). In any event, we are seeing restaurants and offices require removal of these glasses prior to entering…no one likes being videoed without permission and companies don’t like their secrets leaking out through those stupid Facebook Ray-Bans.
I digress…
Don’t be surprised if once Tim retires…the Apple Car comes back to life. They have not sold off any of the facilities they used for development…and may have added a couple. And some of these facilities still have engineers wandering around.
The Apple issue was manufacturing. They could not find a third party willing to manufacture the car in the US. They were also unwilling to take on manufacturing themselves.
Purchasing an existing US EV manufacturer in distress would not be out of their wheelhouse given the pile of cash they are sitting on. So keep your eyes on what is happening at Lucid…lots of good engineers and technology…US manufacturer…and soon to be out of cash.
Apple’s Cooked. They ain’t gonna do jack.
In the future we’ll all be travelling by sitting on the backs of humanoid robots
as long as they are clapping coconuts together….
It’s very odd that Musk is putting the Optibots into existing Fremont plant space.
He could announce a new startup factory and thousands of politicians around the country would rush to line his pockets with subsidies and incentives.
Remember the deal he got for “Tesla Solar” in Buffalo?
I’m surprised they kept these two around for that long, TBH. The Model 3 largely cannibalized the Model S from what I’ve seen around. I think they could have done more to keep both active in the market, but my view on Tesla was they were always going to exit the car manufacturing game as soon as possible — selling EPA credits, working on the battery infrastructure/ecosystem, etc. Building cars is hard work with a very long tail of support and parts.
Musk is a weird dude that I wouldn’t let within 100 yards of anyone I cared about. But I won’t begrudge his efforts at taking the long view on things, which is something sorely lacking in business today. I only wish he had been more of a silent partner is his businesses rather than a weird, quasi-Nazi eugenicist/impregnator obsessed with Mars and ketamine, all of which really eroded his public image.
Main character syndrome, the kind we’ll be reading about in textbooks for the next couple centuries. I just hope his reputation goes down like Bill Cosby. At some point, no matter how amazing you are, there are things you do that will overshaow it all.