Bittersweet news today during Tesla’s Q4 2025 earnings call. Tesla has announced that the Model S and Model X will both be discontinued in Q2 2026. Buy ’em while they’re hot, this is the end of an era!
Tesla Model S
On the evening of June 22, 2012, at Tesla’s Fremont factory, Elon Musk personally handed keys to the first ten production Model S customers in a carefully staged ceremony. These early reservation holders, many of whom had put down deposits years earlier during Tesla’s uncertain post-Roadster days, received Signature Series cars finished in distinctive red with black wheels. The event felt like a coming-of-age moment for the company: after near bankruptcy in 2008 and years of development, Tesla was finally delivering a mass-market electric sedan with over 200 miles of range and supercar acceleration. Musk drove the first car onto the stage himself, the factory lights dimmed dramatically, and employees cheered as the new owners took their vehicles home that night, marking the real beginning of Tesla’s rise as a serious automaker.
How Model S Started
How Model S Ended
Tesla Model X
Three years after the first Model S delivery, on September 29, 2015, Tesla held another milestone delivery event at the same Fremont factory for the long-awaited Model X. After multiple delays and production challenges, Elon Musk presented the first six or seven Founders Series Model X SUVs to their owners, again under dramatic lighting with the falcon-wing doors opening in perfect synchronization as a highlight of the presentation. The early customers, many loyal Tesla supporters who had waited since the 2012 reveal received heavily optioned P90D Ludicrous models. The atmosphere mixed relief (the car was finally real) with excitement over its unique features: the upward-gullwing doors, bioweapon defense mode air filtration, and towing capability in an all-electric package. For Tesla, the night represented both validation of its ambitious SUV vision and a hard-won step past significant manufacturing hurdles.
How Model X Started
How Model X Ended
