Tesla Obliterates 14-Year Flagship Line In Largest EV Discontinuation Since Model S Debuted In 2012
The earnings call was still live when Elon Musk, voice flat, described a “dignified exit.” It was measured language for a corporate funeral.
The Tesla Model S and Model X both proved electric cars could embarrass supercars, but are now getting pulled from production with no redesign or successor in sight. Fremont’s assembly lines would be gutted and rebuilt for something that doesn’t drive on roads.
The Revolution
Before the Model S debuted in 2012, electric vehicles were dismissed as an unsustainable mode of transport, with long charging times and limited range. Tesla’s sedan changed that perception by demonstrating high performance while offering an impressive 265 miles of range, which eventually exceeded 300.
It spawned the Supercharger network. It introduced over-the-air updates to an industry that still mailed recall notices. The Model X followed in 2015 with those iconic Falcon Wing doors, being both an engineering ambition and a reliability headache. By their final year, the two commanded starting prices of $96,630 and $101,630. Two vehicles that rewired expectations of what a car company should be.
Slow Bleed
The sales numbers told a different story to Tesla’s marketing. By 2025, Model S, Model X, and Cybertruck combined for just 50,850 deliveries, a 40% collapse year over year. Model 3 and Model Y moved 1.6 million units, roughly 97% of everything Tesla sold.
Monthly Model S sales cratered to 483 vehicles. Model Y sold 32,000 in the same window. A 66-to-1 ratio. The car that built the brand has only survived this long because of nostalgia, and Musk has known this for years.
The Confession
Back in 2019, Musk said it out loud: “We’re continuing to make them more for sentimental reasons than anything else. They’re really of minor importance to the future.” He told the world the Model S was a dead product walking. Then he kept building them for seven more years.
The January 2026 announcement executed a verdict delivered in 2019, delayed until Optimus was ready to claim the factory floor.
Robot Takeover
Fremont’s Model S and X production lines are being permanently converted to manufacture Optimus humanoid robots, targeting one million units per year. That infrastructure change is physically incompatible with ever resuming car production. Tesla’s $20 billion in planned 2026 capital expenditure spans six concurrent factory ramps, four of them non-automotive: lithium refining, batteries, a Houston megafactory, and Optimus.
The company’s own rhetoric shifted from “accelerating sustainable energy” to “building amazing abundance.” Tesla stopped being a car company and started telling people.
Crown Lost
The Model S Plaid held the production sedan acceleration record at roughly 1.99 seconds to 60 mph. In 2024, the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT set the record before the Lucid Air Sapphire pushed it further to 1.881 seconds on track tires, verified by MotorTrend.
The fastest Tesla ever built lost its crown a year before the end. Meanwhile, BYD delivered 2.26 million EVs globally in 2025, surpassing Tesla’s 1.64 million and seizing the title of the world’s largest EV seller. Tesla lost two records in one year.
Orphaned Owners
Hundreds of thousands of existing Model S and X owners now face a brand with no upgrade path. Tesla plans no replacement for either vehicle. Lucid, Mercedes, BMW, and Porsche will launch campaigns targeting displaced buyers who spent six figures on Tesla’s vision and got abandoned for robots.
Used Model S and X values face a strange split: performance trims may appreciate as collectibles, while standard models absorb depreciation from a final wave of roughly 50,000 new units flooding the market through mid-2026.
New Rule
No automaker has voluntarily killed a 14-year-old product line during a category expansion. The global EV market is still growing. Competitors are pouring billions into premium electric segments. Tesla walked away entirely from a $90,000-plus price point.
That’s the precedent: a company can cannibalize its most profitable legacy product to fund a speculative moonshot, and Wall Street will reward it. Tesla stock trades at more than 250 times earnings.
The Bet
The Optimus gamble rests on a stack of assumptions that haven’t been tested. Gen 3 robots need human-level dexterity. Manufacturing costs must fall below $20,000 per unit. Regulators must permit the deployment of autonomous humanoids at scale.
Competitors like Figure and Unitree are already shipping robots. If any single assumption fails, Tesla has surrendered roughly $3 to $5 billion in estimated lifetime revenue from the Model S and X for a stranded factory. FSD subscriptions grew 38% to 1.1 million users, but that covers just 12% of Tesla’s cumulative fleet.
Last Call
Musk put it simply on the earnings call: “If you’re interested in buying a Model S or X, now would be the time to order it.” Deliveries end by June. The factory lines get torn out. The car that invented the modern EV era becomes a used-market artifact, maintained by Tesla’s service commitment but frozen in time.
Everyone who called Tesla an automotive company was wrong. Musk just proved it by destroying the evidence. The only question left is whether the robots justify the wreckage.
Sources:
Tesla Investor Relations – “Q4 and FY 2025 Update” – January 28, 2026
CNBC – “Elon Musk says Tesla ending Models S and X production” – January 28, 2026
Reuters – “Tesla plans $20 billion capital spending spree in push beyond human-driven cars” – January 28, 2026
CNBC – “China’s BYD overtakes Tesla as world’s top EV seller for first time” – January 2, 2026
MotorTrend – “Tested! The Lucid Air Sapphire Just Set a New 0–60-MPH Record!” – September 28, 2025
Business Insider – “Tesla Only Makes Model S, Model X for ‘Sentimental Reasons,’ Elon Musk Says” – October 23, 2019
