First Tesla designed, engineered and built in-house
Model S
2012 – 2026Discontinued — production ended Q2 20265-door electric luxury sedan, up to 7 seats
The car that proved electric could be better.
Overview
Tesla's own-from-scratch car: a full-size luxury sedan with the battery pack as its floor, a 17-inch touchscreen where the dash should be, and over-the-air updates. It set the template every Tesla since has followed.
The story
Model S was the car that turned a startup that made 2,450 sports cars into an automaker. It was designed at Tesla from nothing — no donor chassis — with the battery pack laid flat as the floor of the car, which gave it a low centre of gravity, space for two trunks, and the structural rigidity of a much smaller car.
It also rewrote the rules of ownership. In 2014 Tesla began pushing software over the air, and cars already in customers' driveways gained hill-hold, then Autopilot, then more power. In December 2014 the P85D's Insane Mode landed in a firmware update and made a family sedan quicker than most supercars.
Tesla announced in 2026 that Model S — along with Model X — would end production in the second quarter, with the last cars built at Fremont. Musk framed it as making room for robots and autonomy: the flagship that saved the company handed the factory over to what came next.
Full specifications
Powertrain
- Layout
- Rear-wheel or dual/tri-motor all-wheel drive
- Motors
- Up to 3 (one front, two rear) in Plaid
- Peak power
- 1,020 hp (Plaid)
- Battery
- 100 kWh pack with liquid thermal management and pack-as-floor structure
- Drive
- AWD (Plaid: independent rear motors, one per wheel)
Performance
- 0–60 mph
- 1.99 s (Plaid), 3.1 s (Long Range)
- Top speed
- 200 mph (Plaid)
- Quarter mile
- 8.9 s at 155 mph (Plaid, as tested)
- Drag coefficient
- 0.208 — among the lowest of any production car
Charging
- DC fast charging
- Up to 250 kW on Superchargers
- Range added
- Up to 200 mi in 15 minutes
- Home charging
- Up to 11.5 kW onboard AC charger
Interior & tech
- Displays
- 17-inch centre touchscreen, 12.3-inch driver display, 8-inch rear screen
- Seating
- 5 seats, plus optional rear-facing jump seats on early cars
- Software
- Over-the-air updates; first car to add range and performance remotely
- Assistance
- Autopilot (2015), Full Self-Driving (Supervised) later
Production
- Built
- 2012 – 2026 at Fremont, California — 14 years
- Unveiled
- Prototype shown 26 March 2009; deliveries 22 June 2012
- Final cars
- Last Model S built in Q2 2026 as Tesla shifted Fremont to robotics
Records and firsts
- First production car to receive over-the-air software updates that changed its performance and range
- First electric car to be Motor Trend Car of the Year (2013)
- First production car to be rated 5 stars by NHTSA in every category and subcategory
- First production sedan to break 400 miles of EPA range (Model S Long Range Plus, 2020)
- Held the production-car 0–60 mph record with the Plaid's 1.99 s in 2021
- Its 0.208 drag coefficient made it the most aerodynamic production car when the 2021 refresh launched
Every version
| Version | Years | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model S 40/60/85 | 2012–2013 | from $57,400 | The original range ladder; 40 kWh was cancelled before delivery |
| P85D | 2014 | from $104,500 | First dual-motor Tesla, 691 hp, Insane Mode |
| P100D Ludicrous | 2016 | from $134,500 | 2.28 s 0–60 mph, first sub-2.5 s production sedan |
| Raven | 2019 | from $79,990 | New permanent-magnet front motor and adaptive suspension, 370 mi |
| Plaid | 2021–2026 | ≈ $99,990 | 1,020 hp, 1.99 s, 200 mph, carbon-sleeved rotors |
| Signature Edition | 2026 | ≈ $100,000+ | Final run; every car individually numbered |