Tesla is giving the Model S and Model X Plaid one last, very flashy curtain call – a limited “Signature Series” run that’s invite-only, capped at 350 cars, and priced from a spicy $159,420 dollars.

Instead of a quiet fade-out, Tesla is turning the end of its two flagship cars into a collectors’ moment. The company is building 250 units of the Model S Signature Plaid and 100 units of the Model X Signature Plaid, all sold only to people who receive a direct email invite from Tesla – if you don’t get that email, you simply can’t order one. It’s clearly aimed at loyalists and collectors who want to own a numbered piece of Tesla history from the brand’s early premium-EV era.

The headline number everyone is talking about is the price: the Model X Signature Plaid starts at $159,420, which is roughly a $30,000 premium over the already-price-hiked Model X Plaid inventory cars that sit around $129,900 in the US. Tesla recently bumped prices on the remaining S and X inventory by about $15,000 as production wound down, and this Signature edition stacks another layer of exclusivity money on top. The Model S Signature Plaid doesn’t have an official sticker confirmed yet, but with the standard Plaid at about $124,900, most estimates put it in the mid-$150,000 range once the same premium structure is applied.

The way Tesla is justifying that premium is almost entirely in the spec sheet, the look, and the perks, rather than new hardware under the skin. Both cars come only as Plaid tri-motor variants and are finished in Garnet Red, a new deep red paint that is not available on any regular production Tesla. On the Model S, even the door handles are color-matched, and the whole exterior is dressed up with gold Tesla T badges at the front, a gold Plaid badge and Signature badge at the rear, plus black mirrors with special “skull caps” said to be part of the Signature branding. The goal is obvious: you should be able to spot one of these in a parking lot from across the street and know you’re not looking at a regular Plaid.

Inside, Tesla leans hard into the special-edition theme. The cabin is finished in a white interior with Alcantara and Signature badging, gold Plaid seat badges with gold piping, and Signature-branded door sills that are paired with a numbered dashboard plaque – for example, 1/250 on the Model S or 1/100 on the Model X. There are also bespoke touches like gold Plaid puddle lights and a custom interior lighting sequence that plays when you enter the car, plus a Signature Edition key fob to complete the feeling that this is more of a collectible object than just another configuration from the Design Studio.

Underneath the gold accents, the mechanical story is familiar, with a couple of key tweaks. The Model S Signature Plaid gets carbon ceramic brakes with gold calipers included, a setup that normally costs a hefty premium on the regular car, while the Model X Signature keeps the standard red Plaid calipers. Both cars come on large wheels out of the box – 21-inch for the Model S and 22-inch for the six-seat Model X – plus the yoke-style steering wheel that has defined the Plaid-era S and X for better or worse. On top of that, Tesla bundles in the so-called Luxe Package, which, according to enthusiast leaks and reporting, includes perks like Full Self-Driving (Supervised), free Supercharging, multiple years of premium service, and lifetime Premium Connectivity.

For Tesla, this is also a narrative move: it’s trying to frame the end of Model S and X as an “era” that deserves a proper send-off. The company has confirmed that production of both models is ending, with only a few hundred units of inventory left globally, mostly in the United States. Elon Musk has already described the termination of the S and X programs as an “honorable discharge,” and Fremont’s production lines are being retooled not for another car, but for Tesla’s Optimus humanoid robots. It’s a symbolic shift: Tesla is essentially saying its future is AI and robotics, not low-volume luxury flagships, even if those flagships once defined the brand.

The “Signature” name isn’t new, and Tesla knows exactly what it evokes. When the Model S first launched back in 2012, the earliest batch of about 1,000 cars were sold as Signature editions that required a large deposit and cost close to six figures, well before mainstream buyers were ready to jump into an electric sedan. Those early owners became some of Tesla’s strongest evangelists, and reviving the Signature badge now is a way of bookending the story: early Signature S at the beginning of the premium EV experiment, and Signature Plaid S and X at the very end.

There’s also an emotional layer for long-time fans. Many early adopters remember things like lining up overnight to reserve a Model 3, trading stories at Superchargers, and watching the Model S and X push the industry into taking long-range EVs seriously. Over more than a decade, the S and X served as rolling showcases for Tesla’s tech, from over-the-air updates to Autopilot, and were often the cars that convinced skeptics that electric didn’t have to mean compromised. Sending them off with a Garnet Red sunset-themed celebration event in May – Tesla is reportedly planning a special “sunset” gathering for owners – is a very on-brand way of writing the last chapter.

Whether the Signature Series makes sense as a purchase is a tougher, more subjective question. At around $160,000 for the Model X and a likely $155,000-plus for the Model S, these cars are squarely in ultra-luxury territory. Critics point out that while the aesthetic and collectability factor is strong, Tesla has not meaningfully updated the S and X hardware in years beyond the 2021 refresh, even as rivals have caught up or passed them in areas like charging speed, bidirectional power, rear-wheel steering, and advanced driver-assist suites. In other words, you’re paying a sizable premium for paint, trim, and a badge on a fundamentally familiar platform.

On the flip side, history suggests that very limited, clearly documented runs of iconic EVs can hold their value well, especially when they mark the end of a model line. With only 350 cars worldwide, unique paint that’s not available elsewhere in Tesla’s lineup, and numbered plaques baked in, the Signature Plaid models are positioned as future auction darlings more than daily commuters. For some Tesla collectors – the kind who already own a Roadster or an early P85D – that combination of scarcity and symbolism might be exactly what they’ve been waiting for.

Stepping back, this “last run” feels like a snapshot of where Tesla is in 2026: still capable of whipping up hype with a single special edition, but also clearly pivoting away from the expensive halo products that built its reputation toward robots and mass-market autonomy. The Signature Series Model S and X Plaid are less about raw specs and more about closing a chapter – one numbered badge, Garnet Red paint job, and $159,420 invoice at a time.