Model X

The Tesla Model X is an all-electric luxury SUV known for its rear doors that swing up like a falcon's wings, its all-wheel drive, and seating you can set up for five, six, or seven people. It was Tesla's third vehicle and its first SUV, and it was built to prove a simple point: if the biggest, thirstiest kind of mainstream car could go fully electric without giving up speed, space, or safety, then just about any vehicle could.

What is the Model X?

The Model X is a large electric SUV built on the same platform as the Model S sedan. Elon unveiled the prototype on February 9, 2012, at Tesla's design studio in Hawthorne, California, and the first cars reached customers in September 2015. Its signature feature is the pair of falcon wing rear doors, which rise straight up instead of swinging out and need only about 12 inches of side clearance to open, so you can load kids or cargo even in a tight parking spot. Inside, a High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter, sold as Bioweapon Defense Mode, pulls 99.97% of particles out of the cabin air.

Why the Model X Exists

The Model X was there to carry Tesla beyond the Model S sedan and into the family part of the market, where people haul kids, gear, and the occasional trailer. Tesla built it on the Model S platform so it could reach these buyers without, in the company's words, stealing many sales from the sedan. It followed Elon's long-running plan of starting with a premium product up top, then driving the cost down toward the mass market. The Model X is that plan made real, a six-figure showcase meant to prove the technology before cheaper Teslas got it.

How it Works

The Model X runs on a 100 kilowatt-hour (kWh) lithium-ion battery, which is roughly enough energy to power an average US home for three days, built from Panasonic cylindrical cells and feeding either two or three electric motors. It slips through the air unusually well for such a tall vehicle, and that helps it turn each charge into more miles. Range climbed fast after launch and then settled around 350 miles as Tesla chose to trade some of it for more speed and polish.

The 2012 launch promise was a vehicle with "ludicrously fast acceleration and hospital-grade cabin air quality," and the car that shipped delivered both. The 2026 lineup comes in two levels: the Dual Motor all-wheel drive makes 670 horsepower, while the three-motor Plaid, at 1,020 horsepower, reaches 60 miles per hour in 2.5 seconds. That makes a seven-seat SUV, child seat in the third row and all, one of the quickest SUVs ever sold. It can also tow 5,000 pounds, which Tesla billed as a first for an electric vehicle.

The Economics of the Model X

The Model X is a showpiece: low volume, high profit per car, six-figure prices. The 2026 lineup starts at $101,630 for the Dual Motor all-wheel drive before options, a six-seat cabin adds $6,500, and the Plaid opens at $116,630.

These prices carried Tesla well above the Model S, but the numbers built stayed small. Sales peaked near 50,000 in 2020 and fell to about 27,800 in 2024, down roughly 37% in a single year. The Model X was always a showpiece rather than a workhorse, so what each one sold for mattered more than how many went out the door.

Current Status of Model X

As of mid-2026 you can still order the Model X in two versions. The Plaid gives up a little range for faster acceleration.

The Plaid gives up 17 miles of range for that extra speed, and it makes up roughly 20% of recent Model X sales. Production, though, is winding down. The combined "other models" group, which includes the Model X, delivered only about 50,850 units across all of 2025.

What Comes Next

Model X production is ending. On Tesla's fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call in late January 2026, Elon announced that Model X and Model S production would end by the close of the second quarter of 2026, calling it "an honorable discharge" as Tesla turns the Fremont line toward its Optimus robot and its self-driving work. The numbers made the case: the falling volume helped drag Tesla's car revenue down by roughly 10% to 11% for the year. The move fits how Elon has always run the company, sending money and factory space to wherever the next big cost breakthrough is waiting, and he has decided that is no longer a 14-year-old SUV.

The Bottom Line

The Model X proved that a large, fast, useful family SUV could run entirely on batteries, and it pulled rivals like Rivian and Lucid into the same fight. It is leaving not because it failed but because it won, and a company now pouring its energy into robots and self-driving has decided this platform has done its job.

Related

Keep reading: Model Y, Optimus. Zoom out to the Tesla overview, or open the Tesla Lineup Explorer.