Tesla Model S and Model X on hold until 2022

Tesla has confirmed via its Australian configurator that there will be no more ongoing local deliveries of the Tesla Model S sedan and Tesla Model X SUV until 2022.

carsales has learned the popular electric duo – the latest upgrade and pricing for which was only announced in January – will be out of contention for Australian enthusiasts for many months following a tip-off from a source close to the Tesla network.

It is understood all deliveries of the Tesla Model S and Tesla Model X have been stopped until the Plaid edition first announced in September last year becomes available.

Tesla does not comment directly on press matters, but a representative pointed us to the car-maker’s Australian configurator, which does indeed confirm the delay.

The absence of the Model S and Model X hits two out of the US brand’s three models in Australia, but should not prove dire for its sales as the Tesla Model 3 is the volume-selling model by a long shot.

The Model 3, which is currently subject to a nine-to-12-week delivery time according to Tesla’s Australian configurator, accounted for almost 90 per cent of the brand’s local deliveries in 2020, figures obtained by carsales recently revealed.

Despite production challenges at its Fremont, California, plant in mid-2020, Tesla shipped 2949 vehicles to Australia in 2020. More than 2600 of them were the Tesla Model 3 mid-size sedan.

Meantime, when the Plaid editions of the Model S and Model X do arrive, expect them to make a statement.

When the new Tesla Model S Plaid rolls off the production line in late 2021, it is set to become the world’s quickest series-production electric sedan.

Propelled by a triple-motor set-up that can generate a whopping 820kW (1100hp) and has an 836km-plus (520-mile) range, the new Model S Plaid was confirmed for production at the US car-maker’s 2020 Battery Day event, alongside plans to unleash an $A35,000 EV – billed as the Tesla Model 2 – and improved battery tech.

Named after a scene in the 1987 movie ‘Space Balls’ where a spaceship accelerates past Ludicrous mode and goes ‘Plaid’, the beefed-up Tesla Model S comes with stunning performance claims including an incredible 0-100km/h sprint time of just 2.0 seconds.

Together with a quarter-mile sprint in less than nine seconds, the hardcore electric sports sedan will set new acceleration records for a series-production electric sedan, according to Tesla, and puts many exotic and even hypercars to shame.

The Plaid EV will also wrest the title of fastest production EV sedan back from the new Lucid Air, which has been developed by ex-Tesla staff and could become a thorn in the side of the Californian car-maker’s plan to dominate the EV space.