Image: @JayinShanghai on Twitter
The first Tesla Model S Plaid has finally landed in China, arriving at one of the company’s showrooms in Shanghai, China, according to a tweet from @JayinShanghai.
“It’s time to witness the ultimate driving experience that this beast has to offer. So, gear up and head over to the showroom to get a glimpse of the future of automotive technology,” @JayinShanghai said in a Sunday tweet that he later clarified was actually written by OpenAI’s wildly popular AI chatbot, ChatGPT.
Tesla Model S Plaid has finally arrived at a Tesla Showroom in the dazzling city of Shanghai, China!
It's time to witness the ultimate driving experience that this beast has to offer. So, gear up and head over to the showroom to get a glimpse of the future of automotive… pic.twitter.com/zawxeW1obU
— Jay in Shanghai 电动 Jay 🇨🇳 (@JayinShanghai) March 19, 2023
The Tesla enthusiast shared images of China’s first Model S Plaid from the Shanghai showroom, including of the unit’s yoke steering wheel. Earlier this week, Tesla started offering round steering wheel retrofits to Model S/X owners for $700.
China has been waiting to get the Model S Plaid for quite some time now. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in November 2021 that the Model S Plaid would make its way to the country “probably around March” of 2022, but that never panned out.
The Model S and Model X Plaid are both produced by Tesla at its Fremont factory in California. While Tesla’s Chinese Gigafactory in Shanghai is responsible for a vast chunk of the automaker’s global supply, it only builds the Model 3 and Model Y.
Tesla officially unveiled the Model S Plaid in China back in November 2022. The company went on to release Chinese pricing for its top-of-the-line electric vehicle (EV) in January, and the first deliveries are expected to begin sometime in the first half of this year.
