Tesla
Tesla says its Model S Plaid has "the quickest acceleration of any vehicle in production."
Tesla's Model S Plaid delivery began in June 2021 and only makes the cars at its Fremont, California, factory. The three-motor vehicle is a faster version of the automaker's Model S sedan, which it unveiled in 2009 and started deliveries in 2012.
Here's everything you need to know about the Model S Plaid.
The vehicle can go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 1.99 seconds, compared with 3.1 seconds for Tesla's standard Model S. The automaker said it has a top speed of 200 miles per hour, but that you need paid hardware upgrades to reach this.
On June 2, 2023, a Model S Plaid equipped with the Track Package reclaimed the lap record for a production electric vehicle at the Nürburgring track in Germany, completing a 12.94-mile lap in 7 minutes and 25 seconds, and beating the record set by the Porsche Taycan Turbo S by more than 8 seconds.
However, that record was short-lived. The Rimac Nevera – a $2.2-million hypercar – broke the Model S' fastest lap record in late 2023, becoming the fastest production EV at Nürburgring.
Hagerty, a vehicle insurance company that also has a media arm creating videos and articles about cars, did a quarter-mile test pitting Tesla vs. Lucid, and the Model S Plaid was beaten by the Lucid Air Sapphire, which was about 0.2 seconds faster.
The differences between these vehicles is usually minute. A trial conducted by the YouTube channel Carwow in mid 2024 pitted the Model S Plaid against the Lamborghini Revuelto in a quarter-mile race in which the Model S Plaid won by just 0.1 seconds. The outcome was similar in a 2023 trial between a Model S Plaid and Ferrari SF90, with the Model S Plaid narrowly winning multiple drag races.
The Model S Plaid has an EPA-estimated range of 396 miles, though this changes depending on, amongst other things, which tires it has.
Tesla claims that the vehicle has 1,020 horsepower. Lucid says that its Air Sapphire has over 1,200 horsepower, which it claimed at the time of launch made it the most powerful sedan in the world.
The Model S Plaid comes with 19-inch wheels and a carbon-fiber spoiler. There are two seats up front and three at the back, with an armrest that can be stowed away.
The vehicle also has the typically tech-heavy Tesla interior: it's equipped with a 17-inch touchscreen, up to 10 teraflops of processing power, which the company said enables gaming that is "on-par with today's newest consoles," and options for people to charge their phones both with wires and wirelessly.
The Model S Plaid is also equipped with a 22-speaker, 960-watt audio system complete with what Tesla calls "Active Road Noise Reduction."
The Model S Plaid starts at $89,990 for the most basic version, $20,000 more than the standard Model S. The Model S Plaid and Model X Plaid top out Tesla's price range as the most expensive vehicles.
There's also a whole suite of add-ons and customizable Tesla features that can push the price up by tens of thousands of dollars. The vehicle comes in the color "stealth grey" as standard. To get it in blue, black, or white costs an additional $1,500, while red and silver carry an extra $2,500 price tag. And though the interior comes in black as standard, you can replace it with a black and white or cream interior for $2,000.
You can also upgrade to a yoke steering wheel for $1,000 and to 21-inch Arachnid Wheels for $4,500. Adding on Full Self-Driving comes in at an additional $8,000.
