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Plaid Plus Cancelled by Elon

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To be honest the standard Plaid performance figures where impressive enough, which I think is Mr Musk's reasoning behind the cancellation.

Agreed there a probably enough people who would pay the extra Ā£30K for that smidgen more performance, but if it get's much faster it doesn't leave much room for differentiation performance wise between it and the Roadster, which I am guessing has even higher profit margins

It will be interesting to see if at the grand unveil latter this weeks the currently quoted performance stats for the plaid change.
 
The performance promises of these sub 2sec cars is really just bragging rights and rare track time. OK so a few blow-away launches from traffic lights when you first get it and then the novelty and discomfort leads one to sane driving. it's the potential range I'd consider. Claim 500 miles and I can expect genuine 350 in winter. Which again translates to 170 miles each way without having to divert for charging..
I always planned to get the roadster when it was revealed but delays and Tesla false promises and most importantly the insides starting to look dated in comparison with upcoming alternatives... It's only the superchargers that might lean me to stay Tesla and soon alternatives will grow.
 
The 500+ mile range needed the new 4680 cells if I remember correctly, which is one reason why plaid+ was only going to be available next year.

I know they are going to need the 4680's initially for the model Y's coming out of Texas and Berlin. Might be the reason for the cancellation i.e. supply constrained for the foreseeable future (I'm not even sure they have even finalised the battery production process yet) and they no doubt would like the customers money now and not in year or two.
 
If there's a supply problem with the 4680 cells then I would've thought it would make far more sense for them to go in the S first, X second, and then filter down as necessary. Otherwise it's basically like Porsche keeping their best engines back for the Cayman/Boxster and leaving the 911 languishing on old tech.

(I like all the above cars incidentally, but in times of shortage surely halo cars/max profit margin cars have to come first)
 
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The problem is the Tesla Model Y variant to be produced by the new Berlin and Texas plants is the one with the Front & Rear single 'giga' castings and structural battery pack. Structural battery pack is based around 4860's, without them those plants can't produce cars.

500K Model Y's with the above castings and pack will be significantly cheaper to produce and have significantly higher margins. The sheer volume means profit wise it will contribute more to the bottom line than the S or X would with its substantially lower numbers.
 
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To be honest the standard Plaid performance figures where impressive enough, which I think is Mr Musk's reasoning behind the cancellation.
I think that might be his excuse, but not his reasoning. I think you've addressed the reasoning in your later post, about the 4680 cells.

I think its pretty shabby really to change tack like that without explanation (Musk, not you tomorrowman!), but I guess when you own the bat and the ball you decide the game.
 
My initial thought after "aww" was that why would anyone buy the roadster if the plaid+ existed.? Plaid+ was very close to the none stupid space-X version. Now it leaves clear water between S and Roadster
 
My initial thought after "aww" was that why would anyone buy the roadster if the plaid+ existed.? Plaid+ was very close to the none stupid space-X version. Now it leaves clear water between S and Roadster
I would say there would still be room for a plaid + and a roadster, 2 different types of cars with mind blowing performance and obviously quite different handling. You have Audi for instance making the R8 but then also the RS6, both great cars and very quick but coexist peacefully without cannibalising each other due to the different use cases/ types of customer
 
I think a few, me included, thought the roadster shared the underpinnings of the Plaid+, same motors, battery, chassis etc maybe a tweaked suspension but nothing radical, and in essence is was mainly just a different body. That thinking is either way off the mark, or there must be now a question over the Roadster as well.

The price difference between the Plaid and Plaid+ for was thought to be largely a switch of battery was a pretty big fraction of the price for a whole MY or Cybertruk so you'd think you'd make much more money selling the Plaid+ MS if you were battery constrained.