Too hard? Or too fast? Tesla Model S Plaid+ killed off

It’s official – the fastest Tesla has been killed off before it ever made it into production.

To be based on the upcoming updated Model S – the latest Tesla to be delayed – the Model S Plaid+ was cancelled by Tesla chief Elon Musk via Twitter today.

“Plaid+ is canceled. No need, as Plaid is just so good,” Musk tweeted earlier today.

The Plaid+ was supposed to use the same triple motor layout of the Model S Plaid – which has been delayed again – but with more power.

While Musk is putting a positive spin on the news that one of its most eagerly-anticipated models has been shelved – claiming the Plaid will be plenty – there’s every chance engineering challenges developing the new model were stacking up. In March Tesla upped the price of the Model S Plaid+.

To be priced from about $253,000 – Tesla’s Australian website doesn’t include various taxes in its list prices, which for the Plaid+ was $199,990 – the Plaid+ was claimed to have 837km of EV range and accelerate to 100km/h in less than 2.1 seconds with a top speed of 322km/h.

Instead, the claim of creating the world’s fastest car has been handed to the regular Plaid.

Buyers of the Model S Plaid – which can still be ordered – will get a car claimed to accelerate to 100km in 2.1 seconds, rather than “less than 2.1 seconds”, as with the Plaid+. The plain-old Plaid has a claimed 628km of EV range.

Despite claims of upwards of 1100 horsepower (about 820kW), the now-cancelled Plaid+ had the same 322km/h top speed of the regular Plaid, which makes a claimed 1020hp (761kW).

Only a couple of weeks ago Tesla’s Australian website was still taking deposits for the Plaid+ and up until June 8 2021 the car was still listed online, albeit greyed out so that people can no longer order one. On June 8 the Plaid+ changed from saying “available at end of 2022” to disappearing altogether.

All of which suggests the decision was something of a surprise to distributors, including those in Australia.

The Model S Plaid and Plaid+ were seen as a response to the Porsche Taycan, which has to some extent stolen some of the Tesla’s limelight for performance and acceleration.

In developing the Taycan, Porsche said the car was designed to do repeated acceleration runs and race track hot laps without overheating, as Teslas have been known to do.

Tesla last week hit back with performance claims for the Model S Plaid that shade the Taycan.

TV personality and car collector Jay Leno says he witnessed the drag run at a track in Bakersfield, California and the Model S completed the quarter-mile strip in 9.247 seconds at 244.77km/h.

While that makes it comfortably quicker than the Taycan in an acceleration run, there’s a good chance Porsche’s efforts with braking and handling would help it fight back around a track.

And the upcoming Rimac Nevera promises to comfortably beat them both.

And remember, Musk’s claims that the Model S Plaid would be the “quickest production car ever made of any kind” need to some serious context.

There are plenty of production cars that will trounce its claimed 322km/h top speed, for example.

And we’d wager there will be plenty of production cars that will thrash the Plaid around a race track.

Musk’s claims seem to refer to the acceleration to 100km/h and down a drag strip.

Even then, they’re claims that could be beaten by the time the car makes it to Australia.