Tesla’s vice president of vehicle engineering, Lars Moravy, left the door open to a future return of the Model S and Model X after acknowledging they were discontinued. He tied the shutdown to global crash-test requirements and said “never say never,” even as
On a podcast released this weekend, Lars Moravy didn’t soften the message about the Model S and Model X—he just refused to seal it forever.
“It was just like: now is not the right time to keep this one going,” Moravy said, referring to Tesla’s decision to ax the cars. Then he added the line that landed with a different kind of weight: “That doesn’t mean it goes away forever. Never say never.”
Moravy was careful not to claim Tesla is actively working on a new Model S or Model X. Still, he didn’t rule out a future comeback, offering a rare mix of closure and possibility—one that matters to a market that has long treated Tesla’s flagship lineup as more than just products.
The reason, in Moravy’s telling, is technical and regulatory. He pointed to global crash-test requirements, explaining that “Every five years or so, Euro NCAP updates their protocols.” Tesla, he said, wants “to make the safest cars on the road,” and that goal requires structural changes.
The platform, Moravy said, “was never designed for” newer crash cases, including small-overlap and offset tests. Tesla, he noted, had made “band-aids along the way,” but he argued that bringing the vehicles into compliance would require a “massive overhaul.”
That discontinuation narrative has shifted over time, and Tesla has said the change wasn’t only about testing. During a January earnings call. CEO Elon Musk described the Model S and Model X as receiving an “honorable discharge” as the automaker shifted its focus toward autonomous vehicles and robotics.
The physical timeline matches that strategic pivot. The final Model S and Model X units rolled off the Fremont, California, production line in mid-May, just as the plant began transforming into an assembly line for Tesla’s Optimus robot.
Moravy also said the cars sold about 750,000 units during their lifetime. When asked directly if the Model S and Model X could come back, he said the vehicles “have done a great job for us in what they needed to do.”
The same podcast included an update on Tesla’s long-awaited second-generation Roadster. Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla’s chief designer, said the company plans to build the two-door sports car in Texas. “We’ve made. you know. first plans on that. and I think you’ll see a lot of things start to unfold in the next months. ” he said.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
The sequence—Euro NCAP requirements forcing structural change. Musk’s “honorable discharge” tied to autonomy and robotics. and Fremont’s switch toward Optimus—doesn’t leave much room for doubt about what priorities won the internal race. Yet Moravy’s “never say never” keeps the market’s biggest question alive: whether the end of Model S and Model X was a hard stop or just a pause waiting for the right conditions.
Tesla Model S Model X Lars Moravy Euro NCAP crash test requirements Fremont production line Optimus robot Elon Musk autonomous vehicles second-generation Roadster
So they’re dead but not dead? Elon loves that wording lol.
I swear every few months it’s “never say never” and then suddenly they’re back. Crash test stuff sounds like an excuse though. If they can update other models why not these?
“Never say never” but also it says they’re discontinued already… so like are they just waiting for the next Elon podcast episode or what? Euro NCAP update every five years right, so that means in 3 years it’s coming back? Idk math.
This reads like they stopped because of regulations, but Elon said it was an “honorable discharge” for autonomous stuff. Sounds like they can’t fix the crash stuff without doing a massive redesign, so they’ll just move on to robots and call it strategic. Kinda tired of “band-aids along the way” like that’s reassuring.