Curious why many on this forum seem to think a 'major' interior update is on its way? Tesla has consistently gone the 'minor update' route for the past 2-3 yrs. This has provided the added advantage of continually refreshing the interior over time and ensuring that the market for the model S remains consistent and fresh.
From what I've seen, opinions by owners/forum members tend to differ from how the general public or non -Tesla owner seems to view the exterior/interior. Ie. just today I had 3 people come up to my vehicle at a car wash and for 25min all were extremely intrigued and wow'd by the ext and interior...namely the minimalist look and how futuristic the console looked. All of them were completely taken with the interior and how amazing the screen interface was, how simple and intuitive the design was, how well crafted the ergonomics were etc etc. I chuckled internally as I remember feeling the same prior to our purchase! What I'm implying here is that Tesla owners become quite accustomed to what they have and over time their opinions and desires to look for change with some of the 'faults' start to translate into comments like 'refresh needed..interior not good enough, we need more, lacking in this, that or the other '. However to put it into a larger context, non-Tesla owners still adore the model both in and out. They don't see the faults we do and are thus not demanding anything with respect to any major refresh...WE are! They just see the most technologically advanced vehicle ever produced wrapped in a beautiful package right out of the 22nd century! Which it truly is
Tesla knows this as well. They are marketing to new ice owners and trying to get the general public to come on board and adopt EV tech for the greater good of the world. In the eyes of those who don't own a Tesla or those who have recently purchased ...it is absolutely perfect as is. All I'm saying is that business decisions made by Tesla are not solely for the purpose of satisfying the needs of existing owners nor creating their design strategy based on those who are already convinced. They will take into account general consumer demand as well as competition within the industry. Ie. Chevy bolt, Nissan Leaf etc. For now until Lucid air, Faraday Future or even Merc, Volvo or any of the traditional auto companies provide a truly competitive model, Tesla's design is still top of the game in its class category.
I suspect we will see more minor updates as has been occurring every quarter or bi-yearly as this has worked thus far in keeping the interior constantly updated. Ie. door pockets, handles, maybe different trim, perhaps auto open/close as with model X.
As for Model 3, Model S and X may eventually start moving more towards a more luxurious version of the newer updated M3 design to keep all models coherent in style.
My 2 cents
You make some good points with regards to people being wowed by the interior, etc... However, I have noticed that typically those most wowed by the interior of a Tesla are not familiar with modern luxury car interiors. With the advent of the Model 3 and it's interior being on par with the Model S, along with the fact that many modern luxury cars interiors (Audi, MB, etc...) are on par with Teslas, and in most cases exceed Teslas design by a wide margin, the target market for the Model S is those Luxury car buyers - so you need a really awesome interior to wow THOSE people. You don't need to wow the Sentra drivers, necessarily - they aren't the ones that are going to be buying the Model S. You need to woo the people ready to drop north of $100k on a car at this point and the current interior is ... not really it. Not by a long shot.
With those two things in play, I think that's why we're going to see a major refresh of the interior sooner rather than later. It hasn't really changed since launch, whereas a lot of other features have. Nosecone, AP1, AP2, Dual Motor, etc... But going from my 2012 to my 2013, I notice very little difference, except the seats, otherwise, it's identical. I probably wouldn't even notice the seats if I didn't sit in them.
The interior is the next logical update on par with the nosecone update. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if we don't see a rotated center screen ala the Model 3 - but, I can definitely see Tesla leaving it vertical to differentiate from the Model 3. But much like the cluster screen from early models to current models, I expect a major resolution bump regardless of orientation. Right now, the screen is looking a little fuzzy compared to smart phones and other screens people are used to seeing at this point.
