Tesla Kills Model S, Model X To Build Robots
Eagle-eyed Tesla fans noticed the automaker stopped taking new orders for custom Model S and X EVs in foreign markets in 2025, leaving fans of both vehicles with only existing new inventory to buy up. Now, it’s official. Tesla is discontinuing both Model S and X during Q2 2026. Why? Because Elon Musk wants to build robots.
The CEO explained, “We are going to convert that production space to an Optimus factory. It’s part of our overall shift to an autonomous future.”
By “that space” he means the California factory that was building Model X and Model S EVs. And by “Optimus” he doesn’t mean a self-driving car such as the Cybercab currently on the road for tests. No, he means the Optimus humanoid robots.
How reality might hit Tesla, hard
I have a lot of thoughts on this move. But the long and short of it is: There’s no proof Optimus works, or will have a market. Humanoid robots have investors in a tizzy. But look at the videophone: It was invented in 1955 and reviewers decreed it would replace all phones, but consumers found it too creepy. Even today, FaceTime is exclusively used for corporate meetings and for grandparents to swoon over their grandkids. Will consumers find humanoid robots creepy? Useless, compared to smaller, nimbler ones or bigger, heavy-lifting bots? We just don’t know.
The Model S and X are Tesla’s flagship products. Not only do both have a proven market, but until the Roadster comes out, these are the vehicles kids and young enthusiasts swoon over. Building them may well boost Model Y and 3 sales. Only short-sighted car companies cut all their halo products. But that’s the crux of the problem.
Elon Musk has never admitted he is operating a car company. Every quarter he has a different line for his investors: Tesla is actually an energy company. Or it’s a mobility provider. For a while, Tesla/X were an AI company. Now, Tesla is a robotics company.
Why do this? Because car companies are difficult to run and poor investments, battling brutal competition for razor-thin profit margins. I must give Elon Musk credit: All the talk worked, and Tesla won a stock price and market cap completely unprecedented in the industry. And believe me: I’m all for automakers having a robust R&D department. But if Tesla neglects its core business for Musk’s moonshots, reality will catch up with its stock price very soon.
