Tesla Model S finally put to rest as firm shifts focus to robots and AI
The car that put Tesla on the map is finally dead after 14 years on sale
Tesla has announced it’ll end production of the Model S and its Model X sister car in the USA. The pair have already been off sale in the UK for a couple of years now, but this news will mean the end of sales all round the world.
These two cars didn’t just put Tesla on the map, but also helped define what high-end EVs could look and feel like, pushing boundaries with extreme performance and clever packaging.
Ironically, considering that Tesla is a company that’s seen as being at the very cutting edge of design and engineering, the Model S has been in constant production since 2012, making it 14 years old. The Model X isn’t much younger at 10 years old.
The American brand won’t replace the two models. Instead, Tesla intends on forging ahead with its autonomous driving, AI and robotics, including the driverless Robotaxi that’s currently in development.
In the California plant where the Model S and Model X were built, the brand will begin mass production of its humanoid robot, Optimus.
However, the end of production for the pair wasn’t necessarily in the original plan, because both the Model S and Model X were both updated only last year with some of the biggest changes since the introduction of the Plaid edition in 2021.
The decision comes as Tesla posted its first ever drop in revenue, due largely to stagnant sales of its high-volume Model Y and Model 3, plus underwhelming global demand for the controversial Cybertruck. Profit also dropped 61 per cent in the last quarter of last year.
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