Tesla Model S Plaid delayed (again), Plaid+ postponed
Tesla’s hot shot Model S Plaid has been delayed – again.
The triple-motor version of the original big volume Tesla has been pushed back another week as Tesla chief Elon Musk says it needs more tweaks. It is the latest delay to the Model S flagship that is designed to regain the fast EV high ground from the Porsche Taycan.
Musk tweeted that the first Plaid deliveries were “pushed back to June 10”, a week later than (most recently) planned.
The Model S and Model X have not been available in Australia for most of 2021 and the online configurator is suggesting the cars won’t be delivered to Australia until “the end of 2022”.
“Needs one more week of tweak,” Musk added in his tweet, while giving an insight into the ballistic performance promised.
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“This car feels like a spaceship. Words cannot describe the limbic resonance.”
The Plaid looks like a regular Model S but comes with a claimed 1020 horsepower, or 760kW.
That would make it more powerful than the current power king in Australia, the recently launched Ferrari SF90 Stradale, with 736kW.
The Model S Plaid is claimed to top 100km/h in 2.1 seconds, although Tesla pops a little asterix next to that claim, indicating it does not include rollout – a drag racing term used to describe the time it takes to get the car moving.
So it’s effectively a 5-100km/h claim, something that subtracts the most challenging time for a performance car – getting it moving.
How much slower than the claimed 2.1-second 0-100km/h time remains to be seen, but estimates are it could easily add a few tenths of a second.
Either way, anything that tops 100km/h in less than three seconds is seriously quick.
And the Model S Plaid claims to reach a top speed of 322km/h, popping it into supercar territory for sheer pace.
It’s also planned to be offered with the aircraft-inspired yoke steering wheel that cuts off the top of the wheel.
But the Model S Plaid is not the planned pinnacle of Tesla performance.
Tesla had also promised a Model S Plaid+, with an uprated 820kW.
However, that Plaid+ is no longer selectable in Tesla’s Australian online configurator.
While you could previously order one – a recent prise rise upped the price to about $252,000 – that option has been blocked.
Rumours swirled a couple of weeks ago that the Plaid+ had struck issues, but Australian buyers could still order one. But that changed last week when Tesla Australia blocked the option on its website.
No word on why the Plaid+ has been removed or whether it will return; Tesla doesn’t make media comments.
Either way, it may not be the car to jump into early on.
While the Tesla faithful are desperate to see and experience the Model S Plaid and Plaid+, Musk recently admitted that the first iterations of new Tesla models can experience issues.
