The Tesla Model S is the most significant car of the last 75 years. It entered production as a Car of the Year winner, but never stopped improving. The world's first software-defined car was continually upgraded, in both hardware and software, so that the final Signature Edition shares little more than its name and skin with the original. This is the story of the Tesla Model S.
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The Model S has reached the end of its 14-year production run. In celebration, Tesla has released a limited-production "Signature" edition, based on the Plaid. It includes gold accents inside and out, beautiful wheels, the Track Package carbon-ceramic brakes (with slightly narrower rear tires.) and voluptuous seats. But it also includes a decade and a half of continual evolution.
The "Tesla Sedan" wasn't perfect. But it was an industry game-changer not (just) because it's electric. Not (just) because it was from a startup. Not (just) because it set the stage for the company to create the world's bestselling passenger car. Not because its list of "industry firsts" is longer than this description. But because it was created using Silicon Valley-style continual iteration.
Tesla never stopped improving the Model S — rolling in hundreds, or even thousands, of running changes during its production: both hardware and software. In the end, it shares merely 3% of its parts with the original 2012 Model S, roughly equivalent to 60 years of progress at a traditional automaker.
In this video, automotive journalist Jason Cammisa brings together the original Tesla Model S prototype, based on a Mercedes CLS sedan, together with the actual car that won the Motor Trend 2013 Car of the Year award and 1 of 250 Signature Edition 2026 Model S sedans to tell the story of a car that showed the automotive industry a new way of thinking, iterating, and building cars.
And legitimized EVs at a time when they didn't seem viable.
In the studio with Jason is the actual Model S Prototype, a WhiteStar 2012 Model S P85, and a "Lazarus" (P3) 2026 Signature Edition Plaid.
Covered in this documentary is also the 2016 Model S Refresh, the 2018 "Raven" update, the 2021 "Palladium" Plaid, and the 2025 P3 "Lazarus" — with a Blackberry, an original iPhone, and period magazine articles and commentary.
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