If the past decade has taught us anything, it’s that Tesla doesn’t operate by the normal rules. Part genuine innovation, part reality distortion field. Discussion of its helium-powered share price used to provoke endless conversations about whether the market could be relied upon to correctly value anything anymore; discussion of Elon Musk’s 50 billion dollar pay package was so febrile that a court in Delaware struck it down. And that’s before you get onto the subject of how it builds its cars and to what standard and how they sold and, finally, how they actually drive.
Traditionally, any objective discussion of the latter was machine-gunned by a fanbase that bordered on the fanatical. They had drunk the Musk Kool-Aid by the quart - so much so that some are even inclined to ignore the bizarre, blow-up-in-your-face firework display that was his friendship with President Trump, and all the saluting and firing and shamefulness it involved. Not Tesla itself, though, we hasten to add: in fact, the firm has just offered Mr Musk a 29 billion dollar pay package designed to a) significantly increase his voting rights via the 96 million shares it confers, and b) ensure that he commits to being a part of the leadership team for at least another two years.
The ripples from that announcement will continue for some time, no doubt - especially as it comes amid a dramatic slowdown for Tesla, triggered at least in part by a nosedive in popularity that occurred during the period that Mr Musk heavily endorsed President Trump. The brand continues to sell more EVs in the US than any other carmaker, although according to data collected by S&P Global Mobility and shared with Reuters, its sales have declined by 8 per cent so far this year in its domestic market - and by 33 per cent in Europe, where his political machinations have been given in shorter shrift.
In comparison, the (unannounced) removal of the Model S and Model X from European configurators seems like small beer. Particularly in the UK, where both cars were only available as left-hand drive variants anyway - effectively killing them as a viable option for most buyers. But the broader implication is that interest in the older, larger models has tapered to such an extent that it no longer makes sense to sell them in Europe, even though Tesla very recently went to the trouble of lightly facelifting both.
Assuming this is the final nail in the coffin, it is an ignominious end for the Model S, a multi-award-winning car that blazed a trail not only for its brand, but for EVs in general, establishing battery-powered models as a viable option beyond major cities for the first time. As such, while it was preceded by the Roadster, the long-running liftback remains synonymous with Tesla and very much woven into its origin story. Its increasingly outrageous output (and the increasingly outrageous names describing them), peaking with more than 1,000hp from the tri-motor Plaid, set the benchmark for every other OEM to chase.
At any rate, both cars will continue to be sold in the States, although for how much longer is an open-ended question. European buyers can still take advantage of remaining stock via the Tesla website, though when that is exhausted, that will likely be it, with apparently no like-for-like replacement in the pipeline. Indeed, much of that pipeline is now devoted to the next big thing: i.e. robotaxis and the licensing of autonomous driving tech to other manufacturers. An investor reportedly told Reuters: “If Tesla succeeds in expanding the technology, there’s a case to be made that Tesla doesn’t need to sell cars and trucks anymore.” So much for the rules.
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