CARS.COM — With deliveries for the entry-level Model 3 kicking off Friday, Tesla is poised to increase the base price for the Model S for the second time this year. Barring any pricing changes for other variants, the move means the cheapest Model S you can buy could soon be the all-wheel-drive Model S 75D, a car that starts at $75,700 with destination fees but before any tax incentives.
Related: Musk Shows Off First Tesla Model 3 on Twitter
In April, the California electric-car maker axed the entry-level Model S 60 and 60D but reduced pricing for the next-higher 75 and 75D by $5,000 apiece. That brought the Model S 75 to $70,700, or just $1,500 more than the discontinued Model S 60.
Soon, however, the cheapest Model S could cost another $5,000 for the all-wheel-drive 75D. Electric-everything website Electrek reported Saturday that the rear-drive Model S 75 would be gone by the end of 2017; Tesla separately confirmed the plans via email to Cars.com. Asked if any pricing adjustments were in the works for the 75D, the automaker declined to comment.
In Tesla-speak, "D" stands for dual motors and all-wheel drive. Non-D cars are rear-wheel drive — and could soon be nonexistent for the Model S, as all other current variants (to wit, the 100D and P100D) are all-wheel drive. As their names suggest, the Model S 75 uses a 75 kilowatt-hour battery; the 60 had a software-limited version. The 100D and P100D employ a 100-kwh battery pack.
Tesla discontinued the 90 and 90D in June, which both had a 90-kwh battery. In April, the automaker told us that despite retiring the 60s, it expected the Model S' overall selling price "to remain almost exactly the same" on average.
