Speculation: Model S to be phased out?

[CleanDemon]

Moderator note: Edited thread title to note this is merely speculation, not based on any known plans.

Ryan Shaw speculating that the S and possibly the X will be phased out.

Tesla’s NEW Giga Battery Is Coming To Model Y & 3 | It Keeps Getting Better

 

[dmurphy]

Ryan Shaw speculating that the S and possibly the X will be phased out.

Tesla’s NEW Giga Battery Is Coming To Model Y & 3 | It Keeps Getting Better

Ah geez, another one of those monetizer videos.

Ignored. Don't know who Ryan Shaw is and, frankly, don't care to find out.

 

[PR0FESSOR]

Exactly.

I subscribe to his channel, but I leave negative feedback when he does crap like this.

Ah geez, another one of those monetizer videos.

Ignored. Don't know who Ryan Shaw is and, frankly, don't care to find out.

 

[CTruck_BMW]

what a dump speculation... no doubt I skip the video each time I see this guy. Boring, slow, and now even coming up with dump speculations only to get viewers.

Now... imagine if they do...What would be the value of a low mileage Tesla Model S in a couple of years from now )))... As dump as this speculation is, as exciting it can be for current Model S owners, lol. Anyway, no this will never happen. At least for the sake to not leave the market opened for Lucid to catch up. YouTube should have been smarter than that before making bold statements for more viewers.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

I don't know about the Model X, but for the Model S, let's be honest, it's an industry trend.

Try to buy a big, expensive 4 door luxury sedan from the brands that used to be synonymous with those cars: Cadillac, Chrysler, Lincoln, or Jaguar. Chrysler is cancelling their 300 for the 2023 model year. Cadillac only has the smaller cars now. Lincoln, of all companies, abandoned cars all together.

Tesla needs to do a complete redesign of the Model S in the next few years. It's not so far fetched to think Tesla would decide to leave the market instead of making that huge investment in an ever-shrinking market.

And EV's don't make for comfortable luxury cars anyway because of the lack of footwells, due to the big batteries. EV's are much better off as SUV's for that reason.

And no, none of those extinct big 4 door sedans became instant collector items. You can buy them dirt cheap today, as would be the case with the Model S.

 

[johnny_cakes]

I've noticed that Ryan Shaw's video titles are full of click bait and continues to get worse. This video has no evidence of this: "Tesla’s NEW Giga Battery Is Coming To Model Y & 3"

 

[James Cole]

I don't think Tesla has to redesigned the S or X, its still miles ahead of the competition also most legacy OEMs have similar cars at double the price.

 

[drunkenbuda]

I stopped watching Ryan Shaw videos.

 

[drunkenbuda]

Model S is the flagship vehicle. I don't see Tesla scrapping the Model S. All the new tech that is in the Model 3 was in the Model S years ago.

 

[Unclepaul]

Model S is a terrific car. Those that own them ride in style.

As previously noted, the luxury 4 door sedan is becoming a smaller part of the pie, however, the remarkable hatch back design of the S makes it a pretty appealing choice in that market.

Tesla's development costs have long been amortized. They can continue to crank them out at a profit and hold pretty good market share in the full sized sedan marketplace.

It is a significant premium and upgrade from the Model 3 offering.

 

[savetheplanet]

It makes sense from a business and efficiency perspective. They could separate the 3 and Y into the two categories that people care about, Sporty and Luxury and get rid of the S and X.

The plaid motors could go into the 3 Performace and now you have one of the most thrilling sports cars in the world. For the Y you can have a “Luxury” Y that will be fitted with air suspension, better NVH, upgraded interior materials, and possibly more battery capacity for longer range.

This would make manufacturing easier without having a separate line just for the S and X, better margins, and offer pretty much everything the S and X does but without the cachet of being a higher tier model.

I love my 2022 Model S but if a more luxurious Model Y came along and was quieter and more comfortable than my S, I would trade it in a heartbeat.

 

[ucmndd]

and offer pretty much everything the S and X does

Except for physical space. The 3/Y are significantly smaller cars all around.

 

[racerx2005]

That’s never going to happen as it will help Lucid sell the “Air” if they don’t bankrupt soon, and Elon will never give Rawlinson that satisfaction.

 

[FreqFlyer]

IMO, if the S is replaced it will be when the mythical Roadster finally makes production. Even then, why do the Roadster? Add two more doors and call it the new S.

 

[strider]

I don't know about the Model X, but for the Model S, let's be honest, it's an industry trend.

Try to buy a big, expensive 4 door luxury sedan from the brands that used to be synonymous with those cars: Cadillac, Chrysler, Lincoln, or Jaguar. Chrysler is cancelling their 300 for the 2023 model year. Cadillac only has the smaller cars now. Lincoln, of all companies, abandoned cars all together.

American companies are killing cars due to CAFE regulations and the higher margins of trucks and SUVs. The krauts all still make large sedans. The Koreans are making a pretty good go of it with the Genesis. Plus large sedans are popular in China. As others have said, costs are mostly sunk at this point and they don't need the line space in Fremont.

 

[dwbv]

Tesla is a business. As long as the S and X continue to sell and hold profitability, then they will continue to exist. The assembly line isn't hurting too much since the overall shape of the S and X has pretty much gone unchanged. It's not a hard decision to make when the S or X stops bringing in reasonable profits or market share.

 

[brainhouston]

I've noticed that Ryan Shaw's video titles are full of click bait and continues to get worse. This video has no evidence of this: "Tesla’s NEW Giga Battery Is Coming To Model Y & 3"

Same, i keep commenting every time he does it..
Seems he's gone from quality to quantity to attract clicks
Wish YouTube had 'mods' like here to change titles if they don't match the video lol

 

[Giampigua]

I don't know about the Model X, but for the Model S, let's be honest, it's an industry trend.

Try to buy a big, expensive 4 door luxury sedan from the brands that used to be synonymous with those cars: Cadillac, Chrysler, Lincoln, or Jaguar. Chrysler is cancelling their 300 for the 2023 model year. Cadillac only has the smaller cars now. Lincoln, of all companies, abandoned cars all together.

Tesla needs to do a complete redesign of the Model S in the next few years. It's not so far fetched to think Tesla would decide to leave the market instead of making that huge investment in an ever-shrinking market.

And EV's don't make for comfortable luxury cars anyway because of the lack of footwells, due to the big batteries. EV's are much better off as SUV's for that reason.

And no, none of those extinct big 4 door sedans became instant collector items. You can buy them dirt cheap today, as would be the case with the Model S.

Given that anyone has its own preferences, and that (unfortunately, from the efficiency point of view) people tend to prefer SUVs, to my opinion EVs are much better as sedan rather than SUVs due to efficiency reason.

Model S has an enormous cargo space, and driving a car with a lower gravity center is much better.

Not to say that very often (not in Tesla case) SUVs only appear more comfortable and more spacious than they actually are: SUVs suspension must be more rigid due to higher gravity center (Class "A" Mercedes moose test was an evidence of that), and in terms of space, often the SUVs are the same as a sedan car, built 20 cm higher...

 

[cduzz]

Tesla is a business. As long as the S and X continue to sell and hold profitability, then they will continue to exist. The assembly line isn't hurting too much since the overall shape of the S and X has pretty much gone unchanged. It's not a hard decision to make when the S or X stops bringing in reasonable profits or market share.

100% agree. If they sell at a profit and the space and resources can't be used for a more profitable product, they'll keep making / selling them.

There's another reason to make / sell the S/X vehicles -- which is they make an ideal test bed for new tech. If they want to test out a new battery chemistry or whatever feature -- they can sell them in the S or X for a year or two and use those as a test harness for producing in large volumes in the 3 / Y markets without taking the risk of getting a huge recall or warranty burden.

 

[xanderwalker]

Elon has hinted that this could happen on a previous earnings call.

Tesla continues to produce the Model S and Model X more for “sentimental reasons than anything else,” CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday during a call with investors, calling the electric vehicles “niche” products.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/23/e...production-continues-for-sentimental-reasons/
“They are really of minor importance to our future,” Musk added.

Tesla is on the path to 10 million cars per year and its possible the Model S and X become a distraction on the path to this goal.

They've already decided to stop building right hand drive Model S and Model X and you can look at that as a hint of how much they care about those product and their importance as a "flagship". It's not worth it to them to build and ship low volume right hand drive S and X vs how many 3 and Y they are selling in those markets. They can extend this logic to the global market and stop these products all together especially if it comes down to dedicating resources on the next generation platforms. It would be a waste of resources to do a ground up redesign of the S and X when they have much bigger market segments to address in the next decade (smaller, cheaper car, vans, etc).

I think they will keep selling the current version of the S and X until the demand drops below a certain level. The latest price cut is a sign that they don't really care about the flagship status. They have the S/X production line humming in Fremont, they don't need that space in the factory for 3 and Y because they already have other factories online to handle that. So they will just keep pumping them out of Fremont until as long as they are still profitable at X% margin. They probably have a plan in place to end the Model S and X once the demand drops to a certain point where the margins don't make sense anymore vs the other products they sell. I think that they still have at least 2-3 years of demand on the current products before they need to make this decision.

I don't think they value the S X products as a test bed or 'flagship' as others have stated here. Tesla doesn't treat the Model S like Mercedes Benz does with the S class or Lexus with the LS where the newest tech gets on those cars first. Tesla puts new tech into whatever product is being developed at that moment. The Model Y was the first to get the octovalve heat pump followed by the Model 3 then finally the Model S and X.