Tesla CEO Elon Musk has announced that production of its Tesla Model S and Model X will end by the middle of 2026.

After 14 years, the Model S large sedan – and its Model X large SUV sibling – will be killed off to make way for production of its new Optimus consumer robots. Around 730,000 units were built since their production started, while the Model S was the first mainstream Tesla and the one that expanded the company’s reach to much of the globe.

Tesla doesn’t list Model S and X production statistics separately but with the Cybertruck included, last year it delivered 50,850 vehicles across the three model lines. That figure stands against 1,585,279 Model 3 and Model Ys. As such, the company now intends to use the S and X production slots at its Fremont, California factory to make robots.

Musk made the announcement today at the company’s fourth quarter 2025 earnings call, where he also confirmed a three per cent drop in revenues throughout 2025 to US$94.8 billion (around A$135b). Tesla’s global deliveries also fell by 8.6 per cent in 2025 to 1,636,129 vehicles.

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“If you’re interested in buying a Model S and X, now is the time to order it, because we expect to wind down S and X production next quarter, and basically stop production,” he said. “We will obviously continue to support the Model S and X programs for as long as people have the vehicles, but we’re going to take the Model S and X production space in our Fremont factory, and convert that into an Optimus factory with a long-term goal of having a million units a year of Optimus robots in the current S and X space.”

Tesla’s Optimus consumer robots will reportedly start production late this year ahead of the first deliveries to the public in 2027. According to Musk, the Optimus will be the “biggest product of all time”. Ahead of that will be the Cybercab autonomous vehicle, which will start production in April.

Originally launched in 2012, the Model S sedan was the first mainstream Tesla product and it was joined by the Model X in 2015. Around 15,000 units of the Model S were delivered in Australia, but right-hand drive production of both it and the Model X ended in 2021. Both continued in left-hand drive markets with various model updates to make them more advanced than the models sold locally.