The ‘Plaid’ is priced at $129,990 against $79,990 for a long-range Model S
The automaker plans to livestream the delivery of the first Model S Plaid at its U.S. factory in Fremont, Calif., at 10 p.m. EDT, according to its official Twitter account.
CEO Elon Musk has not said whether he will take the stage, but he has been on Twitter promoting the new model, which is priced at $129,990 against $79,990 for a long-range Model S.
The launch of the Model S Plaid, which has already been showcased online, has faced delay and some controversy over an expected airplane-style yoke steering wheel. Musk canceled another variant, Model S Plaid+, which would have had a 33 percent higher driving range than the Model S Plaid and used advanced battery technology, known as 4680 cells.
“The Model S Plaid is definitely intended to help reduce the migration of current Tesla owners out of Tesla,” said Ed Kim, vice president at consultancy AutoPacific. “I think what we’re seeing now is that Tesla can no longer operate in a vacuum.”
He said Model S Plaid is a low-volume, halo model aimed at showcasing the automaker and generating excitement around the sedan, with Tesla needing to successfully roll out new models like Cybertruck and Semi trucks to expand its customer base.
Musk has called the Model S Plaid “the fastest accelerating car ever.”
The more powerful sports sedan goes from zero to 60 miles per hour in 1.99 seconds and has an estimated driving range of 390 miles.