End Of An Era: Last Tesla Model S And X Roll Off The Production Line

By Chris Tsui
Signature Series editions of the Tesla Model S and Model X on display at the Fremont factory. Tesla

Love it or hate it, it's the end of an era for Tesla as production on two of the most influential cars of the past 25 years comes to a close. The EV maker built its last Model S and Model X cars last weekend at its Fremont factory, marking the end of a 14-year run for the S and an 11-year run for the X. This leaves the Model 3, Model Y, and Cybertruck as the only consumer cars Tesla makes.

The decision to no longer build the bigger-body Teslas was announced back in January by Elon Musk, and the Fremont plant will be repurposed to build the company's Optimus humanoid robots going forward. In 2025, almost 97% of all Teslas delivered were Model 3s or Model Ys.

"We are going to take the Model S and X production space in our Fremont factory and convert that into an Optimus factory with a long-term goal of having a million units a year of Optimus robots in the current S and X space in Fremont," Musk said on the call in January. "That is slightly sad, but it is time to bring the S and X programs to an end and shift to an autonomous future."

As a goodbye, both cars got Signature Series editions that add Garnet Red paint with gold badges, black mirror caps, and carbon-ceramic brakes with gold calipers for the S. Equipped with the Plaid powertrain, just 250 Model S Signatures will be made alongside 100 of the X. Both cars cost $159,420 because, y'know, weed is funny.

Gamechangers

The final Tesla Model S covered in Tesla employee signatures. Tesla

First produced way back in 2012, the Tesla Model S irreversibly changed the automotive landscape. Other electric cars existed before it, of course, but its popularity arguably shifted the image of an EV in most people's minds from dorky, underpowered, spartan, and niche to desirable, luxurious, and aspirational. Some even consider the Model S the most important car of the 21st century.

Its screen-centric interior, for example, was followed by a wave of iPad-on-dash cabins from pretty much every other car brand. Tesla's wild financial success kicked off a gold rush of startups looking to cash in by building disruptive electric cars of their own—as did every legacy automaker, to be clear, who are frankly still trying to figure electric cars out to this day, to varying degrees of success. It also launched Elon Musk from relatively unknown tech dude and "Iron Man 2" extra to the highly divisive household name he is today. Tesla became a byword for EVs, period, and in the end, the company sold about 750,000 Model S sedans and X SUVs combined.

Now they've gone away for good, and there's been no indication of Tesla working on successors to either vehicle. Perhaps the logic here is "Who needs a big Tesla car when you can have your Optimus robot run all your errands for you in a small Tesla car?"

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