Elon Musk Cancels Tesla Model S Plaid+ Edition, Says Not Needed

In a strange turn of events, Tesla CEO and co-founder Elon Musk have announced that the much-hyped Tesla Model S Plaid+ model for 2021 has been cancelled as the standard Plaid model was more than sufficient. In typical fashion, the billionaire posted this strange development in the form of a tweet. 

One of the key advantages of the Plaid+ model was its 837-kilometre range, but Musk proclaimed that people didn't really need more than 644 kilometres backtracking on his promise of launching a car that could potentially provide 1000 kilometres of range. 

"What we are seeing is that once you have a range above 400 miles, more range doesn't really matter. There are essentially zero trips above 400 miles where the driver doesn't need to stop for the restroom, food, coffee, etc. anyway," Musk said. 

Plaid+ is canceled. No need, as Plaid is just so good.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 6, 2021

Apart from the variance in range, the standard Plaid model is pretty much the same with it achieving 100 km/h in just 1.99 seconds, a number which is being matched by hypercar like Czinger C21. 

In Musk's defence, the Plaid+ was already delayed to mid-2022 and it would not make sense for the company to pour in its resources in such a niche product which would perhaps not provide the business-facing and user-facing benefits as some of its other models. This also allows Tesla to focus more on other products like the Cybertruck and the Roadster which will have loonier figures than the Plaid+ model, eliminating the self product cannibalisation. 

Tesla had already stopped people from preordering the vehicle last month, but what happens to the people who preordered the vehicle. Chances are numbers for preorders were low which also triggered this change.