Tesla has released a final Signature Edition of the Model S to mark the end of its 14-year production run. Jason Cammisa's retrospective for Hagerty uses the occasion to put the scale of that run in perspective. The 2012 red Signature Edition and the 2026 red Signature Edition share a color and a name. Beyond that, they have almost nothing in common: just 3% of parts carry over between them. A conventional automaker, even after a full generational change, typically retains around 50% of parts. By that benchmark, the Model S compressed the equivalent of six automotive generations into a single nameplate across 14 years. The long-range variant alone lost 375 pounds and became roughly 40% more efficient over that span, not through a single redesign but through thousands of rolling changes made without stopping the production line.
The original 2012 car built its reputation against long odds. At launch, the only other EV for sale was the Nissan Leaf, rated at 73 miles of range on flat ground. One had already stranded Cammisa on the side of a road after 40 miles when he switched on the headlights and the heat together. The Model S was asked to do something different: drive 125 miles from Los Angeles to Palm Springs over a mountain range approaching 3,000 feet, with no supercharger network yet in existence and no confirmed charger waiting at the destination. The car made it. Consumer Reports later called it the best vehicle it had ever tested, scoring it 103 out of a possible 100 and breaking its own rating system in the process. Motor Trend awarded it Car of the Year for 2013, with all 11 judges voting unanimously.
The video's sharpest section draws a parallel with a direct contemporary rival. When the P85 Plus debuted, it cost roughly the same as an F10 BMW M5 and ran to 60 mph in comparable time. In the 14 years since: the M5 gained 157 horsepower and 1,040 pounds, while the Plaid gained 64 horsepower and 110 pounds. The M5 is now 7/10 of a second quicker to 60. The Plaid is 2 full seconds quicker. The M5 is 12.5% less efficient than it was then; the Plaid is 23.5% more efficient. The M5 costs $32,000 more in nominal terms; the Plaid costs only $16,000 more and, adjusted for inflation, is effectively cheaper than the original P85 Plus was. Tesla also introduced over-the-air software updates, the large central touchscreen, and on-board cameras repurposed as dashcams, all features that were absent from the wider industry when the Model S appeared.
Bottom line: The Model S was never a flawless product, and Cammisa says so plainly throughout. But it forced every other car company to confront what a software-defined vehicle that never stops improving actually looks like. Fourteen years later, most traditional automakers still cannot push an update to their cars without a dealer visit. Tesla developed Sentry Mode in 4 days and deployed it to owners overnight. That pace set the standard the rest of the industry is still chasing.