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
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Rear Diffuser
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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
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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.
Tesla has expanded its accessory lineup once again, this time with a new, sportier option for interior customization. Owners of the refreshed Model 3 (2024+) can now purchase a Dashboard Décor Wing in Carbon Fiber directly from Tesla in North America, for $300 USD ($415 CAD).
For now, this product is only available in North America, but as usual, we expect it to roll out to other regions in the future.
A Sleek, Modern Look
This new trim piece replaces the standard textile dash with a high-quality carbon fiber accent, giving the minimalist interior a more aggressive and performance-oriented aesthetic.
According to Tesla’s official description, the part is dark gray and black carbon fiber that is cross-woven and finished with epoxy. That means that it won’t just look good - it’ll be resilient to whatever is left on your dash, or to the sun and heat.
Installation Included
A benefit of this official accessory is the all-inclusive price. The pricing includes not only the carbon fiber dashboard wing but also covers shipping to your preferred Service Center, where a professional installation of the new wing will be completed for you. This provides a seamless, factory-quality upgrade without the hassle or fitment issues of third-party alternatives.
Based on the service manuals, the replacement is expected to take approximately 90 minutes, meaning it should be a relatively quick visit to install it once it arrives at your local service center.
This new carbon fiber decor is the second official dashboard option that Tesla has offered for the refreshed Model 3. It joins the previously released Alcantara Décor Wing (also available for the Model Y), which adds a softer and cozier feel. Owners now have a distinct choice directly from Tesla: a plush and premium Alcantara, or a sleek and sporty Carbon Fiber.
Tesla’s recent Q2 2025 Earnings Call provided one of the clearest roadmaps for FSD as of late. While not as detailed as Tesla’s roadmaps from late 2024, these updates give us an idea of Tesla’s future plans for FSD.
Tesla’s comments on FSD during their Q&A session covered everything from a major upcoming FSD update to the latest status on introducing FSD to new territories and when Tesla expects FSD Unsupervised to be ready for customers.
FSD Improvements, Reduced Nag
The biggest news for owners is that a major update is on the way. The learnings and improvements from the Robotaxi FSD builds that power the network in Austin are being integrated into the main consumer FSD Supervised branch for customer vehicles. According to Elon, this will result in a “step change improvement” in capability.
The release involves carefully validating the improvements honed for Austin, so that they don’t cause regressions when deployed more broadly.
Elon once again touched on safety and supervision, a.k.a. the “nag.” Tesla’s teams have noted that many drivers disengage FSD in order to fiddle with controls—whether changing a song, changing their destination, or just glancing at their phone. They will then re-engage FSD once they are done, all to avoid an FSD strike. This is significantly less safe than just leaving FSD on the entire time while they look away. Musk discussed this before, but says there will be additional improvements. Tesla is working to reduce the nag and increase the window in which users can look away from the road. This improvement is expected to be included in the next build.
There’s more than just new capabilities and better controls on their way for the fleet, though. Elon mentioned an up to 10x improvement in parameters. Tesla previously said they were working on 4-4.5x the parameter count, but this newer number is far bigger. The challenge they are beginning to encounter is the limited available memory space for FSD on AI4 computers. The model needs to run in an optimized, predefined hardware package, and Tesla must trim their training models to fit within that package.
So far, they’ve been more than capable - and the indication of a 10x parameter increase is a doubling of what Tesla previously thought was possible. With a parameter increase that’s this big, FSD will be far more capable of handling edge cases, while also reacting much more human-like than ever before.
Release Timelines
During the call, Tesla indicated that a customer build is planned to be released sometime in Q3 2025, which would put us roughly in the July to September timeframe. They are actively working on this build at this point, and the key here is testing and validation, which could speed up or delay this newer FSD build.
That means Tesla will need to use its validation fleets (not the Robotaxi ones, but its other engineering vehicles) to validate the latest builds of FSD in various challenging areas across the country, ensuring there are no regressions in capability.
Once that is done, the build will be sent out to employees and the limited number of Wave 1 Early Access testers. If both groups green-light the release, it will begin a roll-out to the usual major Tesla influencers, and then we’ll see it begin rolling out to customers following their feedback.
Assuming that Tesla is validating and regression testing today, we can expect a public rollout around September, but if they’re still training the customer build, then it could be even later.
FSD Unsupervised
The Austin Robotaxi program is serving as the proving ground for FSD (Unsupervised), which will eventually allow for a truly driverless experience. The successful launch and rapid expansion of the Austin Network are the key steps that Tesla is taking to validate the safety and reliability of the system.
Tesla stated that it expects to launch FSD Unsupervised to certain US cities by the end of 2025. The key points here are select US cities, although expect other stipulations as well. While the hardware used in the Model Y Robotaxis is the same as other models (except for that second communication unit), not all models are trained equally. There’s a reason Tesla is using the Model Y for their Robotaxis — it performs notably better on FSD than other models.
Tesla closely validates its Robotaxi geofenced area. So the select cities may very well be those that have been validated and in which the Robotaxi already operates. Tesla could also limit it to the Model Y initially and even block off tricky intersections, much like they do with the Robotaxi.
Even then, getting FSD Unsupervised in customers’ hands will be a major milestone for Tesla, even if it’s very limited initially.
Global Rollout
The call also provided a fairly concise status update on Robotaxi and FSD expansion into other key markets, making it clear that the next steps aren’t on Tesla conducting country-specific training, but instead regulatory hurdles.
For Europe, Tesla is still working with the Netherlands for regulatory approval. Once their approval is secured, they’ll then need to obtain approval from the EU and the UNECE. This is a lengthy, multi-step approval process to secure an exemption for Tesla from the UNECE AV regulations. Elon is hopeful and confident that it could be approved as soon as the end of Q3, if not by the end of 2025.
In China, FSD is currently limited to AI4 vehicles, and Tesla is working on FSD for HW3 vehicles. The challenge in China is that each update requires regulatory approval and testing on each vehicle, making regulatory approvals a time-consuming process with each update.
Wrapping Up
After months without updates, it’s great to hear Tesla’s plans for FSD. It appears that AI4 owners can expect a major update in a couple of months, while Tesla continues to address regulatory issues in Europe and China. We also received our first concrete piece of information on when Tesla plans to roll out FSD Unsupervised to customers. This will likely be a much more gradual process than Tesla suggests during their earnings call, but each step brings us closer to true autonomy.
