Tesla most successful car could be on the verge of change that would make it even better
Owners love it, car critics love it, Consumer Reports mostly loves it, and it represents the bulk of Tesla's sales since it was first rolled out in 2012.
And it could be on the verge of a tweak that makes it even more remarkable.
The top-of-the-line Model S is the P90D, the all-wheel-drive high-performance version, with a 0-60 mph time that rivals supercars.
The "90" stands for the 90 kWh battery pack that the car carries, currently Tesla's largest, serving up just under 300 miles of range per charge, as long as you don't have "Ludicrous Mode," which gives the blazing performance but cuts into range.
Car and Driver (via Electrotek) reported this week that an improved battery may be in the offing for the Model S: a 100 kWh pack that could get the Model S 90D to travel a 300 total miles on a charge. (And presumably be renamed the Model S 100D).
That "100" tag would be a cool change, and a solid 300 miles of range is equally symbolic, even if it's only 12 miles more than the current top Model S 90D's range.
Tesla was coy about the rumor, which arose when someone allegedly hacked into the Model S's onboard compute and discovered 100-kWh upgrade code.
"We are constantly innovating and adding new features to make our vehicles even better," Tesla said. "However, we don't comment on speculation about future releases."
Continuous improvement
Tesla has steadily improved the Model S's performance since the vehicle's introduction, so it makes sense that the company would continue to offer customers more of what they've come to like about the car: speed and range.
In fact, CEO Elon Musk is an obvious student of the the Japanese manufacturing concept of "kaizen," or continuous improvement, most often associated with Toyota and the innovations it brought to automaking in the 1980s.
"We just relentlessly make things better," he said recently on Tesla's first-quarter earnings call with analysts.
"So, for example, for the Model S, there's an average of 20 improvements per week. Mostly, these are a little tiny nuance things that most people wouldn't notice. But, it is a continuous improvement process."
Tesla has over the past two years struggled to meet its projections for production and deliveries of vehicles. But it hasn't lost the thread of what makes people want to buy its cars - and in some cases wait years to get them. Tesla wants its cars to embody ongoing innovation, never sitting still. That's why Teslas don't have Model years - with software updates, a one-year-old car can suddenly seem new, as features are added.