Tesla fans waiting on a refreshed Model S or Model X are going to have wait indefinitely. CEO Elon Musk confirmed there would be no refreshed versions for both vehicles.
In automotive speak, refreshed refers to small revisions to a car model that extends beyond the typical yearly updates made by manufacturers. Although not a major redesign, a noticeable change is often made to the vehicle model.
Tesla will make minor and ongoing changes to the luxury electric sedan and sport utility car, according to Musk, like what Tesla has done in which it took the Model 3 rear drive unit as the front drive unit in the S and X vehicles. In a tweet, Musk pointed out that this change was carried out only three months ago.
"There is no "refreshed" Model X or Model S coming, only a series of minor ongoing changes," Musk wrote. "Most significant change in the 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."
But the S and X won't be going anywhere. Tesla has no plans of discontinuing either model, at least for now. Musk made this clear when asked on Twitter if the company would get rid of said models and release new model lines for "anticipated full self-driving capabilities."
However, we're not quite sure what Tesla's plans are for the flagship S and X in the future. After all, neither cars were outstanding in terms of sales compared to the Model 3, which is considerably cheaper. Tesla delivered 17,650 Model S and X vehicles compared to 77,550 Model 3s in the second quarter.
From a business standpoint, Musk's decision makes a lot of sense. Why would a company that is so resource-hungry as it is divert funding and personnel away from new models like Y or the Tesla truck to retool relatively low-volume flagship models?
As Musk has said, Models S and X will continue to receive minor updates, both in hardware and of course via software. But Musk said there wouldn't be any changes to the interior of both cars, despite the move away from the S and X's more traditional interior layout to the more minimal style used on 3 and Y.
We're yet to find out what will happen to Models S and X in the longer term. There will inevitably come a time when Tesla turns its full focus to its autonomous efforts, although Musk has confirmed that won't be any time soon.
