Elon Musk confirms new Tesla Model S is a 7-seater despite no option yet

– Mar. 23rd 2021 6:00 am ET

Elon Musk confirmed in a comment that Tesla’s new refreshed Model S can “seat up to 7 people” despite the automaker not offering it as an option yet.

When Musk first announced the Model S Plaid back in 2019, the CEO said that it will have the option for third-row jump seats, which was an option on the original Model S but was later discontinued.

For the first few years of production starting in 2012, Tesla offered a kit of two rear-facing seats that would fit in the trunk of the Model S.

It didn’t make the electric sedan a seven-seater since the jump seats could only fit smaller children and the option wasn’t popular enough, so Tesla discontinued it.

Electrek‘s Seth Weintraub had the jump seats in his 2013 Model S, and his kids enjoyed them for a few years until they became too big:

Elon Musk confirms new Tesla Model S is a 7-seater despite no option yet

Now since the announcement of the new Model S Plaid, Musk has been promising to bring back third-row seats in the Model S again, but this time he has been teasing that he could even fit adults back there.

However, when Tesla officially unveiled the new Model S and Model X refresh along with the Model S Plaid in January, a seven-seat configuration wasn’t an option.

But now in a new tweet, Musk reiterated that the new Model S will “seat up to 7 people”:

“The new Plaid S is our best car ever. Will be first production car to achieve 0-60mph in under 2 secs and it has four doors and seats up to 7 people.”

The fact that it is not yet available in the configurator could mean that it will be available as an accessory after purchase on Tesla’s website, but it’s not clear at this point.

Musk also specifically referenced the Plaid version of the Model S and not the Long Range or Plaid+.

Tesla has yet to start delivering any of those vehicles yet, but deliveries are expected to start any day now after retooling the production lines at the Fremont factory.

We recently reported on a drone video capturing some early production refreshed Model S vehicles at the Fremont factory, and one of them appeared to have a third row of seats, though it is hard to tell from the distance.

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Tesla

Tesla is a transportation and energy company. It sells vehicles under its 'Tesla Motors' division and stationary battery pack for home, commercial and utility-scale projects under its 'Tesla Energy' division.

Tesla Model S

The Tesla Model S is an all-electric luxury sedan and the first vehicle developed from the ground up by Tesla. The Tesla Roadster was the first vehicle developed by Tesla, but it was based on a chassis by Lotus.