Tesla updated its website configurator for the Tesla Model S electric car to include its new Plaid performance trim, which promises a 0 to 60 mph acceleration time in under two seconds flat. If you get all of the goodies, that means the Model S now costs up to a whopping $156,490.
For context, the estimated purchase price of a Model S Long Range Plus, the most affordable currently available on Tesla’s website, comes out to $74,990, or pretty much half of what the top-tier car now costs.
But that top tier is the upcoming “Plaid” performance trim, which the company claimed will offer some truly incredible performance. Its “tri-motor” layout gives it more power than any Model S before it, claiming around 1,100 horsepower, a 0 to 60 mph time under two seconds, and a sub-nine-second quarter-mile time. Allegedly, when you aren’t driving the absolute shit out of it, Tesla even claims it will get up to 520 miles of driving range.
But you will get all that for the starting price of the new Plaid model, which is “just” $139,990. I wanted to see how high I could push it, so I checked all the boxes. Getting one of the pricey paint options (so, not white) raises the price by $1,500 unless you get red, which is then $2,500.
Naturally, we need to upgrade the standard 19-inch wheels to the $4,500 21-inch option, the $1,500 black and white interior package to match it of course, and the long-promised $8,000 future “full self-driving” package that unlocks all the hardware on the car for full use of what are still actually just driver assistance systems.
Doing all of that will indeed raise the price of your Tesla Model S all the way up to a purchase price of $156,490. That’s of course not factoring in the “estimated savings” on gas and other things Tesla claims you’ll save on the price of the car.
This is all to point out that the Tesla Model S, a car introduced nearly a decade ago with no announced plans for an actual traditional model-cycle update, is still pushing its performance and price limitations with no hesitation and seemingly no lacking demand. May we all peak so late in life.
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