Tesla Model S Plaid OFFICIALLY arrives with 1,020bhp

The Tesla Model S Plaid officially arrives as Tesla delivers a Model S with 1,020bhp, three motors, and sub-2-second 0-60mph.

It’s just a few days ago that Elon Musk announced there won’t be a Tesla Model S Plaid+ as the regular Model S Plaid was just so good. Now it’s here, it’s hard to argue he was wrong.

Tesla claims this new Model S Plaid is the first production car to hit 60mph in under 2.0 seconds (Tesla quote 1.99s) although, along with other claims he’s made about the Plaid (perhaps we should call it the Model S Tartan this side of the Pond?), it’s not entirely right. Still, extraordinarily impressive though.

Other good news – apart from the massive power increase – is that Tesla says it can now do back-to-back flat-out runs – no more waiting three weeks for the batteries to get to the right place – and the new motors, all three of them, have carbon-sleeved rotors. A first, apparently.

The Model S Plaid can also hit 200mph – with the right tyres, which aren’t yet available – and can hit the quarter-mile in a scant 9.23 seconds, the fastest of any production car, says Musk. Again, not entirely correct.

All this performance is helped by the “lowest drag coefficient of any car ever made” says Musk – just 0.208 – which is very impressive but again, not quite accurate we think.

Still, despite some not quite accurate claims, the Tesla Model S Plaid is a huge achievement and proves Tesla can deliver on promises.

But if you are planning to rush off to Tesla’s website and order the Plaid, be warned it costs from £118,000 and you won’t get one until the end of next year.