Everything is going well at Tesla. Wait, sorry, no. Everything is going wrong at Tesla. The automaker held its quarterly earnings call on Thursday, announcing that fourth-quarter profits fell 61% year over year, and annual profit crashed 46% in 2025.
It gets worse. As reported by TechCrunch, on the call, CEO Elon Musk said that Tesla is killing off the Model S sedan and the Model X SUV. This isn’t exactly a surprise, as both EVs are Tesla’s oldest models, with the Model S launching in 2012 and the Model X following three years later. It’s been years since they were either strong sellers; while Tesla no longer breaks down their sales, in 2025 it delivered 50,850 units of the Cybertruck, the Model S and the Model X combined (a 40.2% decrease compared to 2024), with the latter two likely to make 30,000 of those. Honestly, this should have happened a long time ago, ideally followed by next generation versions of both, but it was never going to happen. Instead, Tesla has given both models a couple of enshittifying facelifts over the past few years, the most recent of which came just a few months ago.
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“It’s time to basically end the Model S and X programs with an honorable discharge, because we’re really moving toward a future that’s based on autonomy,” Musk said on the call, “so if you’re interested in buying a Model S and X, now would be the time to order it.” The last units of both cars will be built at some point next quarter. Musk said that their suspension “is somewhat sad.” Boo hoo. He added that Tesla will support Model S and Model X owners “as long as people have the vehicles,” whatever that means.
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Taking their place on the assembly lines of Tesla’s Fremont, California, factory will reportedly be the Optimus robot. As The Verge reports, Musk said that the “mass production” version of the Optimus will be shown later this quarter, and the first one will reportedly be built before the end of the year. We have heard how these promises usually turn out. Previously, Musk said he aims for Tesla to build a million of them a year. Uh huh. He is also focused on releasing the Tesla Cybercab. We’re not holding our breath for that one, either.
Putting aside everything else related to Tesla and Elon, it’s a shame to see the Model S taken down like this. It revolutionized the car industry, and while new versions were suckier, the early years of the Model S were really great. Too bad their creator is focused on making the car world, and the world as a whole, a worse place.