Will Plaid be back in fashion for 2021 or will rivals rise?

() joined Wall Street’s prestigious S&P 500 index on December 21 as its sixth-largest member, becoming the latest tech inductee alongside the likes of Amazon, Apple and Facebook.

Here in the second of a three-part series on the electric vehicle maker, our chief feature writer Oli Haill looks at Tesla’s launch plans and competition.

Launching its fastest road car yet

By the end of 2021 Tesla plans to have delivered the first versions of its most powerful vehicle to date, the souped-up version of its Model S electric sportscar.

The Model S ‘Plaid’ will have an estimated range of “more than 520 miles” and a top speed of 200mph from an electric powertrain made up of three motors.

Facing a lot more EV competition

Tesla’s current valuation is “like it’s operating in a vacuum”, an analyst from US broker Roth Capital Partners said recently.

But this vacuum will be more obviously untrue in 2021 as the amount of competition Tesla is facing will step up a level. And it will increase each year, such that by 2024 there are currently around 400 new models pencilled in to launch. This is inevitable ahead of countries like the UK banning sales of new internal combustion engine cars from 2030 and even some US states going all-electric, such as California in 2035.

For example, Tesla’s Plaid model, before it is even launched, will come up against Porsche’s all-electric Taycan, which is due to start sales in the UK early next year. The Taycan, where the range varies between 250 and 280 miles between existing models, recently set a record lap time at California’s classic Laguna Seca racetrack and so can make the powerful marketing claim to be the “fastest four-door, all-electric sports car”. Musk is said to want this title for the Plaid – something to watch out for next year too. But the Taycan, which some reviewers say is better built and handles better than a Tesla, is likely to be a very popular competitor.

Two upmarket all-electric models are expected to reach showrooms next year: Mercedes-Benz’s flagship EQS saloon and Jaguar’s next-generation XJ in electric-only form, both with ranges just topping 300 miles.

For the average motorist who wants a long-range electric car a lot cheaper than a Tesla, Volkswagen will start selling the next models in its all-electric ID series in 2021, the ID.5 coupe SUV and ID.4 hatchback, which will both offer around a 320-mile range.

Toyota, Audi, NIO and Rivian

Corp (), the second-largest carmaker in the world and the company behind the world’s top-selling hybrid, the Prius, is going all-electric too – with the launch of an SUV.

The leading model in Norway, one of the most advanced EV markets in the world, is Audi’s e-tron. A new model is due in 2021 and will be one of 12 all-electric models that Audi intends to be offering by 2025.

Elsewhere, the raft of new models includes a new electric Fiat 500, a Mercedes van, the Hyundai Kona Electric, new Nissan Leaf, Skoda’s first…