Tesla CEO Elon Musk busts any rumors of a major Tesla Model S and Model X ‘refresh’ coming anytime soon, last night he replied to a tweet about a potential customer waiting for a Model X refresh:
There is no “refreshed” Model X or Model S coming, only a series of minor ongoing changes. Most significant change in past few years was to use high efficiency Model 3 rear drive unit as S/X front drive unit. That went into production 3 months ago.
Elon Musk also explicitly denied any update coming to the interior of the Tesla Model S or Model X any time soon, what we can understand from his statement above is that Tesla will continue to innovate and improve upon the current design and engineering of these vehicles for a significant amount of time, this might be a few years into the future.
Around three months ago Tesla started using the better engineered and optimized front drive units for the S and X and the thing Elon Musk forgot to mention is the new re-engineered ‘Adaptive Air Suspension (codenamed: Raven)’ which was introduced along with the new drive units.
In a quest for constant refinement, Tesla also did minor changes to the wheel bearings and tire designs with the above mentioned upgrades, not to mention that all the Model S and Model X are now coming with the new Tesla Supercomputer (FSD Computer) and the existing S & X vehicles will get the FSD computer retrofit free of charge starting later this year
The last time Tesla Model S received a major design refresh was the re-design of the front-fascia and new adaptive LED headlights in 2016 following the launch of the Tesla Model X in late 2015 — Tesla Model S also borrowed the ‘Bioweapon Defense Mode’ that year from the Model X.
In the above tweet, Elon Musk endorsed the idea that getting the ideal S or X is not possible because it’s an ideal situation due to constant innovation at the Silicon Valley-based automaker’s various design, engineering, and R&D facilities — scientifically achieving the ideal situation is not practically possible.
There were also strong rumors floating on Tesla related blogs and social media that the new Tesla Model S and Model X interior will include a ‘horizontal’ screen instead of the current vertical position, just like a Model 3 setup, because playing games or watching videos is better viewed horizontally — but after Elon Musk’s statements, this looks too distant in the future.
Related:
- Detailed overview of the new Model S and X ‘Raven’ adaptive air suspension
- Tesla Model S and X get extra range, $20k Ludicrous Mode is now ‘Free’, more updates
- First-look at the new Driving Visualizations in Tesla 2019.16.1 update
- Tesla Model S P100D vs. Dodge Demon in an epic 1/4 mile drag race battle
- Tesla increases the power behind the Model S/X center screen with new MCU
- Over 900 km (560 mi) of Hypermiling on a single charge in a Tesla Model S