Most manufacturers would be freaking out about the future if it had models in its lineup that were mostly the same now as they were when they debuted seven years ago. Not Tesla, though.
Despite many minor changes and a few technical updates, the Model S of 2019 is not wildly different from the one that debuted way back in 2012. That has led people to wonder if the Model S and its slightly newer sibling, Model X, will be getting a redo anytime soon.
The answer to that, according to the Big T's CEO Elon Musk, is no. The recent mechanical refresh to S and X that we saw a few months ago is the extent of what we can expect for the future. On the one hand, that sounds crazy, but on the other, it's not like either model looks especially dated.
There is no “refreshed” Model X or Model S coming, only a series of minor ongoing changes. Most significant change in past few years was to use high efficiency Model 3 rear drive unit as S/X front drive unit. That went into production 3 months ago.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 9, 2019
Musk's decision makes sense from a business standpoint, too. Why would a company that is so resource-hungry as it is divert funding and personnel away from new models like Y or the Tesla truck to retool relatively low-volume flagship models?
Now, Models S and X will continue to get minor updates, both in hardware and of course through software, but Musk also states that we shouldn't expect even an interior re-do, despite the move away from the S and X's more traditional interior layout to the more minimal style used on 3 and Y.
In the long-term, it's not clear how S and X fit into Tesla's grand plans with all the robotaxis and semi-trucks and God knows what else Elon is cooking up. In the meantime though, they won't be going anywhere, and if our own Tim Stevens' recent review of the current Model S is anything to go by, that's not a bad thing.
Tesla didn't had no further comment beyond Musk's tweets.
