Lifestyle
This Tesla Model S Plaid+ concept car is covered in gold, and you can buy one
The Tesla Model S is one of the most revolutionary vehicles in recent memory. While Tesla first released the Roadster in its early days, the Model S was the first car the automaker released that was readily available to the public upon its initial production push in 2012. Over the years, the Model S has been revised several times by Tesla, but third-party customization companies, like Caviar Royal Gift, have also put their own spin on the all-electric flagship sedan. This one is covered in 24 karat, 999 gold (indicating a gold content of 999.9 parts per thousand – the purest form of gold that is available to consumers), matching the $299,999 price tag that will keep this ride reserved for the rich.
Caviar has spent the better part of its established presence creating customized iPhones that also sell for a pretty penny. However, the company took on a new project that goes past the Smartphone sector, but still lies within the broad technology industry by customizing a brand new Model S sedan, rocking the brand new Plaid+ powertrain that retails for $168,990. While the Plaid+ Model S has the best performance specifications to ever be released for a production vehicle with a less than 1.9-second 0-60 MPH time, a 200 MPH top speed, and range ratings that go over 520 miles, the vehicle is already impressive in its own right.
However, there are some owners who don’t only want the performance, but they want the cosmetics too. While the Model S is a sharp vehicle on its own, owners and aftermarket companies have put their own spins on Tesla cars in the past, coming up with some wildly creative designs.
Caviar took it up a notch. “The World’s best electric car is turned into a truly luxury item. Black gloss and dazzling gold. This is how Caviar designers present a high-tech luxury vehicle,” the company writes about the custom Model S. Designed by a team of Caviar artists, the Model S concept car is covered in 999 gold through the Double Electroplated technique that bonds and protects the gold to the car.
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- Credit: Caviar Royal Gift
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- Credit: Caviar Royal Gift
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- Credit: Caviar Royal Gift
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- Credit: Caviar Royal Gift
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- Credit: Caviar Royal Gift
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- Credit: Caviar Royal Gift
The company writes:
“The brand’s artists have created an exclusive Tesla Model S concept car. The electric car is presented in black and adorned with decorative elements covered with 999 gold in Double Electroplated technique. The radiator grille, side skirts, discs, rear-view mirrors and elements of the rear and front bumpers are in the gold color.
Imagine yourself driving this car: a respectable high-quality oil-colored body and a dazzling glow of gold. You are not just driving the car of the future. This is a new word in luxury car modding. If you think that they will turn after you and look with an admiring glance, you are not mistaken. That is exactly what the Caviar Model Excellence 24K is made for.
We are confident that the synthesis of high technology and luxurious materials is exactly what you need. It’s not just a car. It is the quintessence of sophistication, luxury, and self-confidence. Dare to walk such a beast along the main streets of the city? Be careful, you can dazzle those around you with your splendor.”
Caviar requires anyone interested to submit a request for the vehicle, but the timeline on when the car will be delivered ultimately falls on Tesla. The Model S Plaid+ variant, while announced earlier this year, will not be available until at least mid-2022, according to Tesla’s online design studio.
Regardless, the Model S Excellence 24K, as it is being called, isn’t just about the exterior. Caviar also threw in some renders of the gold-plated Yoke Steering wheel and dash screen, which are new additions to the revised Model S design.
If you’re thinking about getting one of these for yourself, Caviar said it will only produce 99 of these, so get it while you still can!
Elon Musk
Tesla ditches India after years of broken promises
Tesla has ditched its plans to build a factory in India after years of failed negotiations.
Tesla’s long-running effort to establish a manufacturing presence in India is officially over. India’s Minister of Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy confirmed on May 19, 2026 that Tesla has informed authorities it will not proceed with a manufacturing facility in the country.
Tesla first signaled serious interest in India around 2021, when it began hiring local staff and lobbying the Indian government for lower import tariffs. The ask was straightforward: reduce duties enough for Tesla to test the market with imported vehicles before committing capital to a local factory. India’s position was equally firm, with an ask of Tesla to commit to manufacturing first, then receive tariff relief. Neither side moved, and the talks quietly collapsed.
Tesla to open first India experience center in Mumbai on July 15
India had offered a policy that would reduce import duties from 110% down to 15% on EVs priced above $35,000, provided companies committed at least $500 million toward local manufacturing investment within three years. Tesla declined to participate. The tariff standoff was only part of the problem. Analysts pointed to significant gaps in India’s local supply chain, inadequate industrial infrastructure, and a mismatch between Tesla’s premium pricing and the purchasing power of India’s automotive market as additional factors that made the investment difficult to justify.
First signs of an unraveling relationship came in April 2024, when Musk abruptly cancelled a planned trip to India where he was set to meet Prime Minister Modi and announce Tesla’s market entry. By July 2024, Fortune reported that Tesla executives had stopped contacting Indian government officials entirely. The government at that point understood Tesla had capital constraints and no plans to invest.
The more fundamental issue is that Tesla’s existing factories are currently operating at approximately 60% capacity, making a commitment to building new manufacturing capacity in a new market difficult to defend to investors. Tesla will continue selling imported Model Y vehicles through its existing showrooms in Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram, and Bengaluru, but local production is no longer part of the plan.
Elon Musk
Trump’s invite for Elon just reshuffled Tesla’s big Signature Delivery Event
Tesla rescheduled its final Model S farewell to May 20 after Musk joined Trump in China.
Tesla has rescheduled its Model S and Model X Signature Edition delivery event to Wednesday, May 20, 2026, after abruptly calling off the original May 12 celebration. The event will take place at Tesla’s factory at 45500 Fremont Boulevard in Fremont, California, the same location where the Model S first rolled off the line in 2012. Invitees received a follow-up email asking them to reconfirm attendance and download a new QR code ticket, with Tesla noting that all travel and accommodation expenses remain the buyer’s responsibility.
The reason behind the original cancellation came into focus the same day it was announced. President Trump invited Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, and executives from Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, Citigroup, and Meta to join his trip to China this week for a summit with President Xi Jinping. The agenda covers trade, artificial intelligence, export controls, Taiwan, and the Iran war, following weeks of escalating friction between Washington and Beijing over AI technology, sanctions, and rare earth exports. Trump wrote on Truth Social, “I am very much looking forward to my trip to China, an amazing Country, with a Leader, President Xi, respected by all.”
Tesla launches 200mph Model S “Gold” Signature in invite-only purchase
The vehicles at the center of all this are the last Model S and Model X units Tesla will ever build. Priced at $159,420 each, the 250 Model S and 100 Model X Signature Edition units come finished in Garnet Red with a one-year no-resale agreement, giving Tesla right of first refusal if the owner decides to sell. As Teslarati reported, the Model S defined Tesla’s early identity as a serious luxury automaker, and the Fremont factory line that built it is now being converted to manufacture Optimus humanoid robots.
Musk’s inclusion in the China delegation drew attention given his very public relationship with Trump, and the invitation signals the two have moved past and past grievances. Trump originally brought Musk on to lead the Department of Government Efficiency following his inauguration, and despite a sharp public dispute in mid-2025, the two have appeared together repeatedly in recent months. A seat on the China trip, the most diplomatically consequential visit of Trump’s current term, puts Musk back at the table on U.S. economic policy at a moment when Tesla’s China revenue remains one of the company’s most important financial pillars.
Lifestyle
Tesla Semi hauls fresh Cybercab batch as Robotaxi era takes hold
A Tesla Semi was filmed hauling Cybercab units out of Giga Texas for the first time.
A Tesla Semi loaded with Cybercab units was recently filmed leaving Gigafactory Texas, marking what appears to be the first documented delivery run of Tesla’s autonomous two-seater. The footage shows multiple Cybercabs secured on a flatbed trailer being hauled by a production Tesla Semi, a truck rated for a gross combination weight of 82,000 lbs. The location is consistent with Giga Texas in Austin, where Cybercab production has been ramping since February 2026.
The sighting follows a wave of Cybercab activity at the Austin facility. In late April, drone operator Joe Tegtmeyer spotted approximately 60 Cybercabs parked in two organized groups in the factory’s outbound lot, the largest concentration observed to date. Units being staged in an outbound lot is a standard pre-delivery step, and the Semi footage is the logical next frame in that sequence.
En route with @tesla_semi pic.twitter.com/ZfuOjaeLH1
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) May 7, 2026
This is not the first time Tesla has used its own Semi to move Tesla products. When the Semi was unveiled in 2017, Musk noted it would be used for Tesla’s own operations, and over the years Semi prototypes were spotted carrying cargo ranging from concrete weights to Tesla vehicles being delivered to consumers. In 2023, a Semi was photographed transporting a Cybertruck on a trailer ahead of that vehicle’s delivery launch.
The Cybercab itself was first revealed publicly at Tesla’s “We, Robot” event on October 10, 2024, at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, where 20 pre-production units gave attendees rides around the studio lot. Musk stated at the event that Tesla intends to produce the Cybercab before 2027. The first production unit rolled off the Giga Texas line on February 17, 2026, with Musk posting on X: “Congratulations to the Tesla team on making the first production Cybercab.”
Tesla’s annual production goal is 2 million Cybercabs per year once multiple factories reach full design capacity, with the company targeting a price under $30,000 per unit. Tesla has confirmed plans to expand its robotaxi service to seven cities in the first half of 2026, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas, building on the unsupervised service already running in Austin. Musk has said he expects robotaxis to cover between a quarter and half of the United States by end of year.
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