At the June 10 delivery event, the Tesla Model S Plaid Plus was supposed to take the crown as the quickest vehicle. However, there’s seems to be a last-minute change as that specific model is now cancelled, leaving the job for the non-Plus Model S Plaid.
The Model S is already Tesla’s most premium offering currently available. In 2019, Elon Musk confirmed that a Plaid (a reference to Mel Brook's 1987 film Spaceballs) variant was in development and would be available in a few years.
Soon after, it was revealed that an even more powerful Tesla Model Plaid Plus will be available at a price of $1,49,990, with higher performance and a range of more than 520 miles (~830 km) on a single charge — likely achieved by using the new 4680 cells. However, it mysteriously became unavailable from the company’s website a few weeks ago.
Plaid+ is canceled. No need, as Plaid is just so good.June 6, 2021
Just days ahead of the unveiling, Elon Musk took to Twitter to announce that the “Plaid+ is canceled” as the “Plaid is just so good”. Unsurprisingly, no other details or reasoning was shared, leaving fans confused.
The regular Tesla Model S Plaid will still be the quickest production car ever made with a 0 to 60 mph acceleration in under 2 seconds, with a top speed of 200 mph (~320 kmph), 1020 horsepower and a range of around 400 miles (~640 km). It has a listed price of $1,19,990 and has an estimated delivery time of this month.
This move means that the 4680 cells and the performance gains brought by them will likely be reserved for the Tesla Roadster, which will dethrone the Model S Plaid in 2022 with even quicker acceleration, a top speed of more than 250 mph and a range of over 620 miles.
Perhaps Tesla wants to have some differentiation between its top two models — which the Tesla Model S Plaid Plus would have blurred.
Model S Plaid delivery event at our Fremont factory will be streamed live on June 10, 7pm Pacific pic.twitter.com/V7c77ySFtiJune 7, 2021
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