Um, the $200,000 special edition was a last-minute opportunistic price increase to respond to market demand. As soon as Tesla Motors announced the end of U.S. production this summer, suddenly everyone came out of the woodwork to buy them as investments or because they had just been procrastinating (me). It's no coincidence that the 'special' options are all existing available options, including custom color (TM just selected the two colors to minimize their costs).
They really don't have time to design a different battery pack that is reliable, considering such changes have not been tried in a shipping roadster and it would require firmware development, too. The special edition is all about maximum profit for minimal effort, with a nod towards making the cars at least look different so the suckers paying $200k have bragging rights. ;-)