Tesla is sending the Model S and Model X to the grave in Garnet Red with gold badges, limited to just 350 units total, priced at roughly $155,000 to $160,000 apiece. That’s a $30,000 premium over current sticker for what is, at its core, a paint-and-trim package on a pair of vehicles whose architectures date back over a decade.
The Signature Series details emerged via Ryan McCaffrey, a senior executive editor at IGN and host of the Tesla-focused podcast Ride the Lightning, who posted specifics on X sourced from Tesla insiders. Of the 350 units, 250 will be Model S sedans and 100 will be Model X SUVs. If you didn’t receive an email invitation to buy one, you’re already shut out.
This is apparently the “honorable discharge” Elon Musk teased when he confirmed both models were headed for the end of the line. Whether gold calipers and Alcantara qualify as honorable is a matter of personal taste and disposable income.
The cosmetic rundown reads like a luxury watch collaboration more than an engineering sendoff. Both cars get Garnet Red exteriors, gold Tesla “T” hood badges, gold Plaid rear badging, and black mirror caps that may or may not carry special Signature logos. The Model S gets body-colored door handles and carbon-ceramic brakes behind 21-inch wheels. The Model X makes do with standard door handles, red calipers, and 22-inch wheels.
Inside, white Alcantara covers the cabin. Gold piping accents the front seats, gold Plaid logos adorn the seatbacks, and “Signature” door sills greet you on entry. A numbered dash plaque tells you exactly which of the 350 you’re sitting in. The Model X comes exclusively in a six-seat configuration, while the Model S stays at five.
Both trims ship standard with what Tesla calls the Luxe Package: Full Self-Driving (Supervised), lifetime free Supercharging, four years of premium maintenance and protection, and a special Signature Series key fob. That bundled software and service goes some distance toward justifying the price gap. Though “some distance” and “$30,000” are doing very different amounts of work in that sentence.
McCaffrey also reported that a celebration event is planned for May, to take place “fittingly at sunset.” No location was confirmed, but the smart money is on Fremont, California, the factory where every Model S and Model X has been built since production began.
The Model S earned MotorTrend’s 2013 Car of the Year, the first pure EV ever to claim the title. It forced every legacy automaker to take battery-electric sedans seriously. The Model X, for all its falcon-wing-door quirks, proved there was a luxury SUV market Tesla could own before anyone else showed up.
Together, they bankrolled the company long enough for the Model 3 to arrive and change Tesla’s entire financial trajectory. Now both nameplates exit as the company pivots hard toward robotaxis, humanoid robots, and whatever else occupies Musk’s attention in a given quarter. The Fremont line will free up capacity, and Tesla moves further from the premium sedan-and-SUV business that built its reputation.
Three hundred fifty units won’t last long. The collector market will absorb them almost instantly, and resale premiums will likely dwarf the $30,000 markup before the sunset event’s champagne goes flat. Whether these cars represent a genuine tribute to two groundbreaking vehicles or a final extraction of maximum margin from Tesla’s most loyal buyers depends entirely on which side of that email invite you landed on.
Either way, the sun is going down on the cars that proved Tesla was real. Gold trim or not, that chapter is closed.
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