Tesla vehicle prices always fluctuate for a variety of reasons, including demand, currency adjustments, production, and other reasons. However, out of the blue, Tesla has now raised the price for the Model X and Model S in North America and Europe.
Price Changes
The Model X recently hit one of its lowest prices, with the Long Range variant priced at $79,990—just below the federal EV tax credit threshold. This meant eligible buyers could claim an additional $7,500 rebate, making it an even more attractive deal.
Now, it’s a double blow: Tesla has increased the Long Range Model X price to $84,990, pushing it above the tax credit limit. As a result, some buyers could see an effective price hike of $12,500, making the vehicle significantly more expensive.
The Model X Plaid sees even more of an increase, with it going from $89,990 to $99,990. The increases aren’t just in the U.S., but also affect Canada and most of Europe as well. Just two weeks ago, Canada raised their vehicle prices of the Model S and X by $4,000 CAD to account for currency fluctuations.
Here are the price changes before taking into account any tax rebates or taxes.
American Price Changes
Prev Price
New Price
Model S Long Range
$74,990
$79,990
Model S Plaid
$85,990
$94,990
Model X Long Range
$79,990
$84,990
Model X Plaid
$89,990
$94,990
Canadian Price Changes
Prev Price
New Price
Model S Long Range
$114,990
$114,990 (no change)
Model S Plaid
$135,990
$135,990 (no change)
Model X Long Range
$114,990
$121,990
Model X Plaid
$135,990
$142,990
European Price Changes
Prev Price
New Price
Model S Long Range
€94,990
€110,990
Model S Plaid
€99,990
€120,990
Model X Long Range
€94,990
€115,990
Model X Plaid
€99,990
€125,990
Free Supercharging & Premium Connectivity
Although these price changes are disappointing for anyone in the market, Tesla is adding a few incentives. Every Model S and Model X now come with Lifetime Free Supercharging, something Tesla was previously going away from to prevent Supercharger congestion.
Tesla is also including free Premium Connectivity, which normally costs $10/month or $99/year. So there are certainly some savings to be had by buying the now more expensive model.
It’s worth noting that even with free Supercharging, owners are not exempt from congestion or idle fees. Those fees are there to prevent drivers from blocking Superchargers for extended periods of time, so they apply to everyone.
Why the Price Adjustment
It’s not clear where this change is coming from. The Model S and Model X have dwindling sales, partly due to the Model 3 and Model Y offering more of the features that used to be exclusive to the Model S/X, like ventilated seats. However, the Cybertruck is likely also causing sales to dip for the Model X, as they’re both larger vehicles.
All Model S and Model X vehicles are produced in Fremont, California, so the price increase outside of the U.S. isn’t as surprising since Tesla likely wants to fill demand in the U.S. first, where it’s cheaper for them to get cars to their final destination.
With Tesla selling just 84,133 Model S, Model X, and Cybertruck vehicles in all of 2024, it’s certainly possible that Tesla is planning to phase these vehicles out to reduce logistics and make room for new models at their existing factories. For comparison, Tesla sold 1.7 million Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in 2024.
As Tesla sales slump in January, we’ll have to see how these new prices affect sales.
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In a recent interview at the Qatar Economic Forum, Elon Musk answered questions covering a wide array of topics. During this interview, he provided some insights into Tesla, its roadmap for autonomy, his commitment to the company, and then delved into SpaceX and xAI.
It was an interesting interview, run by an interviewer who was ready to pick at Elon’s faults, but nonetheless, he came out standing strong and with a clear focus. Let’s take a look at everything discussed during the interview.
Tesla
One of the key items addressed by Elon during this interview was Tesla’s global presence and markets. Elon noted and agreed that Europe is currently Tesla’s weakest market, but even so, sales for Tesla continue to perform well within expectations for this year. He attributed much of the decline in sales to the ramp of the Model Y, but also linked some to his public persona - but more on that later.
What’s key here is that Elon noted that Tesla has built a global core customer base that is faithful to the brand and excited to see what’s next at every turn, which means that Tesla is in good shape, even with some regions seeing reduced sales.
Covering autonomy, Tesla’s focus remains on the advancement of autonomous driving in the near and long term. The upcoming launch of the Robotaxi network in Austin is an important near-term milestone and represents a critical phase for Tesla. If the launch goes as planned, Tesla plans to expand to additional regions and roll out Unsupervised FSD to customers.
Elon as CEO
Regarding his own role, Elon confirmed that he intends to remain at the head of Tesla as CEO for the foreseeable future, barring any unforeseen circumstances. He also mentioned that this commitment is tied to ensuring he has sufficient voting control to prevent potential ousting by activist investors rather than being primarily about his compensation package.
Tesla has been making moves to prevent further activist investors from filing suits against the company, with the latest step being to re-incorporate in Texas and adopting a new company policy that prevents shareholder lawsuits from those that own less than 3% of the company.
The interview also touched on some of the more challenging aspects that Elon has been exposed to recently. He acknowledged that some recent negative events and narratives surrounding Tesla have taken a personal toll on him, as well as a toll on the company. While he didn’t go into specifics, Elon acknowledged at the Q1 2025 Earnings Call that Tesla has suffered brand damage as a result of his work with the current US administration and that his reduced role at D.O.G.E. should help to reduce further damage.
Shifting the sights from the roads to the skies, SpaceX’s core business remains firmly centered on a few key aspects. That is rocketry, Starlink, and Starlink’s terminals. Elon did note that there is a potential to take Starlink public, but he isn’t in any immediate rush, given the continued and increasing growth of the Starlink user base worldwide. Starlink would need to further expand and provide additional services, like the upcoming Direct-to-Cell, before an IPO would be considered.
The next space-based topic was Starship. Starship is the cornerstone of SpaceX’s plans to colonize Mars, and the full reusability of Starship is SpaceX’s next step in achieving that goal. Once Starship becomes fully reusable, the cost of access to space, the Moon, and Mars will become drastically lowered, enabling further movement towards the greater mission of making humans a multi-planetary species.
xAI and AGI
The conversation also took a turn into the fields of AI. Elon has expressed views that many well-established industries are overregulated while new and upcoming industries, like AI, are grossly underregulated. Once again, Elon is advocating for some level of government oversight or regulation to ensure the responsible development of AI technologies.
This is due to the potential risks that Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) could pose to humans and society as a whole. AGI is a focus for many AI companies who are pursuing truly generalized artificial intelligence that can understand and learn on its own. However, AGI also invokes thoughts of Skynet - the AI built by Cyberdyne Systems in the Terminator franchise.
Preventing and regulating the development of AGI to ensure that it stays within the bounds of human control will be key, and that forms the basis of Elon’s concerns with the rapid rate of advancement of AI today. In particular, Elon mentioned his critical views of OpenAI’s shift from a non-profit, open-source model to a for-profit, closed-source model that is searching for AGI.
Neuralink
Elon also touched on Neuralink just briefly. He highlighted that the company and its engineers are working on new advancements aimed at restoring capabilities, including sight, for individuals with specific medical conditions. Neuralink is already providing real humans who previously lacked the ability to communicate or interact with the world in an easier way.
The interview was pretty broad and covered Elon’s entire spectrum of companies - maybe just stopping short of touching on The Boring Company. You can check out the interview for yourself below.
Tesla’s long-anticipated refresh of the Model S and Model X is drawing closer, and we’re finally getting a clearer look at what to expect. Although the update is relatively minor, it does help freshen up the look of the Model S and Model X since their redesign in 2021.
While the camouflage made the grill-like opening at the front of the vehicle hard to spot, it was evident something was there. However, new photos shared by The Kilowatts show that Tesla is covering up this opening with a material that has a carbon fiber finish, at least on the Plaid variant.
While we were hoping for more drastic changes, such as a grill-less look with a light bar, similar to the new Model Y, it looks like that won’t happen with this refresh.
The limited design changes suggest Tesla may be trying to limit tooling and manufacturing changes for these lower-volume vehicles. While the headlights already support adaptive beams, they remained unchanged from the current Model S and Model X.
Our best look at the new front bumper camera on the upcoming Model S
klwtts/X
Rear Diffuser
klwtts/X
Tesla has also updated the rear diffuser, though it’s unclear if this will be exclusive to the Plaid version. While the refreshed Model Y moved its rear camera up into the rear trim piece, the Model S keeps it in the same location as the previous generation.
Ambient Lighting Arrives
For the first time, we’re getting a look at the refreshed interior — and there’s one noticeable addition: ambient lighting. This feature, which is now available on all of Tesla’s other vehicles, is finally making its way to the Model S and Model X. The implementation appears closer in style to the Model Y, with lighting running along the door panels but stopping about halfway down before continuing on the rear doors.
While ambient lighting is primarily aesthetic, Tesla has been expanding its use for more dynamic and interactive features.
Recent Ambient Lighting Additions
Over the last year, Tesla has made the ambient lighting feature more useful by integrating it with other Tesla vehicles. For example, Santa Mode and Rainbow Road easter eggs will now take advantage of the ambient lighting, with Santa Mode cycling the colors between red and green for a Christmas flair [videos], while Rainbow Road cycles the colors of the rainbow.
Tesla has also added other little additions, such as turning the ambient lighting red when Service Mode is active in the vehicle. They have also added additional options in recent updates to ambient lighting, such as the ability to choose the brightness of the lights and choose whether they'll always remain on or only come on at night.
New Exterior Color
klwtts/X
The refreshed Model X was also spotted in a new exterior color, similar but not identical to the Glacier Blue available on the new Model Y outside North America.
Launch Timeline
Although Tesla hasn’t officially said anything about a new Model S besides that, it’ll receive some “love” later this year. The Kilowatts noted that Tesla doesn’t have any Model S or X vehicles in their Fremont outbound lot, making it seem like these models could be announced any day now.
While the updates are relatively minor in terms of body redesign, the addition of the front bumper camera and ambient lighting are very welcome additions.
Stay tuned to see if there are any additional changes to these vehicles.