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Tesla is ending production of the Model S sedan and Model X SUV, CEO Elon Musk announced Wednesday during the company\u2019s quarterly earnings call. <\/p>\n
The company will make the final versions of both electric vehicles next quarter, he said, adding that his company will offer support for existing Model S and Model X owners \u201cfor as long as people have the vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time to basically bring the Model S and X programs to an end with an honorable discharge, because we\u2019re really moving into a future that is based on autonomy,\u201d he said. \u201cSo if you\u2019re interested in buying a Model S and X, now would be the time to order it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Model S and Model X are both built at the company\u2019s Fremont, California factory. Once production ends, Tesla will build Optimus robots in the same factory space, according to Musk. Production of Tesla\u2019s Cybertruck, which is made at the company\u2019s factory outside of Austin, will continue.<\/p>\n
Tesla launched<\/a> the Model S in 2012, and it\u2019s regarded as the first car that made electric vehicles widely appealing. The Model X was Tesla\u2019s second major electric vehicle program.<\/p>\n Tesla always intended for its more affordable models \u2014 the Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV \u2014 to greatly outsell their predecessors. <\/p>\n But sales of both models have flatlined in recent years, despite interior and exterior refreshes along the way. Tesla has faced increased competition in the luxury EV space from legacy automakers, as well as upstarts like Rivian and Lucid Motors.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> \u201cSo that is slightly sad, but it\u2019s\u2026 it is time to bring the S and X programs to an end,\u201d Musk said.<\/p>\n The Model S was not Tesla\u2019s first car \u2014 that title goes to the original Roadster. But the Model S was the first car Tesla created from the ground up. <\/p>\n That helped it ditch a lot of the tradeoffs of the Roadster, and paved the way for the Model S to become one of the first true mass-market electric vehicles.<\/p>\n Tesla launched the sedan in 2012 with a base price of $57,400. It had a floor-mounted battery that helped make it roomier and far more dynamic to drive than the few other all-electric vehicles that were available at the time.<\/p>\n Tesla also offered the Model S with multiple battery sizes, allowing customers to pay up for more EV range. <\/p>\n The car was instantly popular, with Tesla collecting more than 10,000 reservations for it by the time the first deliveries started in June of that year. By 2013, it had become MotorTrend\u2019s car of the year<\/a>, beating out the best gas cars from around the world.<\/p>\n \u201cAt its core, the Tesla Model S is simply a damned good car you happen to plug in to refuel,\u201d MotorTrend wrote.<\/p>\n Tesla iterated on the Model S in the years that followed. It changed up battery options \u2014 at one point even offering larger battery packs with range that was software-limited, in a bid to get customers to adopt a sort of \u201cbuy now pay later\u201d attitude. <\/p>\n The Model S was also the first Tesla<\/a> to get \u201cLudicrous Mode,\u201d which made it possible to go from 0 to 60 m.p.h in just 2.8 seconds. It was an exhilarating feature that also became one of Tesla\u2019s sharpest word-of-mouth marketing tools.<\/p>\n Tesla kept improving the Model S, giving it industry-leading range that still beats most other EVs and an overall exterior and interior refresh<\/a> in 2021. But by that point the company\u2019s success had skyrocketed on the backs of the much cheaper Model 3 and Model Y. <\/p>\n The Model X was not so straightforward. <\/p>\n First teased<\/a> before the release of the Model S in 2012, the Model X SUV didn\u2019t hit the streets until 2015. When it did, it arrived with overly complex \u201cFalcon Wing\u201d rear doors that folded up. <\/p>\n These made it extremely easy to get in and out of the Model X. But the doors \u2014 along with the rest of the SUV \u2014 proved to be very hard to build at scale with any reliable quality over the years. Musk eventually called<\/a> it the \u201cFaberg\u00e9 of cars.\u201d It was a nod to the luxury stylings and features, but also to the Model X\u2019s brittle nature.<\/p>\n The Model X still sold fairly well alongside the S, and it also received a big refresh in 2021. But production problems plagued the new version, too, and Musk admitted in early 2022 that Tesla made a mistake by halting production before the redesigned Model X was ready to be made at scale<\/a>.<\/p>\n In hindsight, the retirement of the Model S and Model X have been a long time coming. <\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 13-15, 2026<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\nTesla\u2019s first ground-up design<\/h2>\n
The Faberg\u00e9 SUV<\/h2>\n
A long time coming<\/h2>\n