- Tesla’s Vice President of Engineering said the Model S and Model X will get some “love” this year.
- They need it, as Tesla’s flagship sedan and SUV are both starting to feel pretty old.
- New spy shots show Tesla testing a revised Plaid on the Nürburgring, so maybe a change is on the way soon.
Here’s an open secret. While legacy automakers have long been (accurately) criticized for being too slow to adapt, Tesla is not as fast-moving as it pretends to be. Take the Cybertruck: It took nearly 5 years from being “revealed” to production starting, and when it arrived it was clear the company skipped a lot of steps in validation and testing. The best example, though, is the Model S, as these spy shots from the Nürburgring show.
Tesla appears to be testing an updated version of the Model S Plaid. That’s the 1,020-hp version that’s knock-your-pants-off fast, even if the rest of the chassis feels overwhelmed with that much power. That’s no surprise: The original Model S entered production in 2012, making it 13 years old. That’s ancient in the automotive world.
Sure, Tesla has updated its interior, powertrain and battery multiple times. Most of the parts are probably different than in the original design. But certain basics—like the vehicle’s overall packaging, layout, dynamic capabilities and suspension hard points—require bigger upgrades to rework. The Model S hasn’t really gotten those, and it’s getting harder to ignore.
The “flagship” Tesla sedan has no 800-volt architecture, no ultra-fast charging, no Lucid-beating range and a suspension setup that no longer feels world-class. In many ways, the Plaid I drove in 2023 was actually worse than the P100D I drove in 2017, with fewer physical controls and too much power for the vehicle’s suspension and chassis to adequately handle in corners and under braking. No wonder Tesla pulled the Model S and Model X from China.
But that doesn’t mean Tesla is giving up. We’ve heard rumors of a refresh, and these spy shots prove the company is developing... something. It’s clearly not a big visual change, as beyond the splitter and diffuser it looks the same as the existing Model S. Still, those new aero elements at the front and rear may improve grip, potentially improving the Plaid’s handling.
Tesla’s VP of Engineering said earlier this year that the Model S and Model X would get some “love” this year, so we know something is coming. The question is whether “love” means a minor upgrade to the top-end Plaid, or the more holistic refresh that the vehicles need. We’d love to see a Model S with the improved motors from a Model 3 Highland or Model Y Juniper, the 800-volt system from the Cybertruck and maybe even four-wheel steering. But if Tesla is indeed planning those changes, this prototype doesn’t give us any hints.
Hopefully the upgrades are substantial. Tesla may consider itself an AI company, not a car company, but that approach is costing it a lot of sales and money. The company has failed to prove that it can keep a full product line fresh and deliver a consistent cadence of redesigns and updates. When it was the only EV game in town, that strategy worked. But when other companies are iterating year over year—or month over month in China—Tesla really can’t afford to move so slowly.
Contac the author: Mack.Hogan@insideevs.com.
