What movie inspired the name of the Tesla Model S Plaid?

What movie inspired the name of the Tesla Model S Plaid? The answer is Spaceballs.

The name refers to Mel Brooks’s 1987 science-fiction comedy Spaceballs. In the film, the spaceship Spaceball One accelerates through increasingly absurd speed levels, including “ludicrous speed,” before going “to plaid.” The joke shows the star field becoming a fast-moving plaid pattern.

Tesla had already borrowed “Ludicrous” for a high-performance acceleration mode in the Model S. “Plaid” became the next, even more extreme reference when Tesla introduced the tri-motor Model S Plaid in 2021. The naming fits Tesla’s habit of hiding pop-culture jokes and Easter eggs in vehicle software and branding.

A common mix-up is assuming Plaid describes the car’s upholstery or a literal exterior pattern. It is instead a playful performance reference. Spaceballs itself is a parody of films such as Star Wars, which helps explain why the name feels connected to space travel even though it is not taken from a Tesla engineering term.