Tesla has dropped the price of all variants of the Model 3 by up to 6% in Australia in an update to its website on Friday.
The Model 3 Standard Range Plus has dropped by $4,000 to $62,900, and the Long Range variant has also dropped by $4,000 down to $77,900. The Performance variant now costs $89,900, a more modest drop of $1,000.
The price drops come 6 months after a $6,000 drop for both the SR+ and LR variants, and a $5,000 drop for the Performance, a reversal of a foreign-excange driven price hike earlier in 2020 that saw the SR+ peak at $73,900.
The latest price drop means the SR+ variant is now 13.5% cheaper than 12 months ago. It also undercuts the second hand Model 3 offerings, many of which are priced at around $68,000.
But one customer, who placed an online order for a new Model 3 SR+ just a few days ago, told The Driven that he had been informed that he will be invoiced the new lower price.
The price drop means that once on-road cost decreases are factored in, drivers will save as much as $6,000 at the door depending on the variant.
A second price drop has been expected for some months, since it was revealed that the Model 3 SR+ is now being shipped from China. The LR variant is also now being shipped from Tesla’s Shanghai factory according to reliable sources.
Tesla has been working on lowering the manufacturing cost of the Model 3 by localising parts supply, and also introduced the cheaper lithium-iron-phosphate battery made by Chinese battery maker CATL as a part of a strategy to reduce dependence on cobalt.
It is one in a string of price drops that the EV maker has been rolling out in various markets, the most significant of which is in Japan.
In early 2021, Tesla dropped the price of the Model 3 in Japan – which had been proving a tough nut to crack – by up to 24% and it has since seen sales take off by 1300%.
While in Japan sales of other electric vehicles are commonplace, electric vehicle sales are low across the board in Australia.
Sales are on the up in Australia having doubled since this time last year according to Vfacts figures, and based on figures from reliable sources so have Tesla sales (the EV maker does not report local sales figures). However, while EV sales in general are now above 1% it is still well below the global average of 4.2%.
Bridie Schmidt is lead reporter for The Driven, sister site of Renew Economy. She has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018, and has a keen interest in the role that zero-emissions transport has to play in sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organiser of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum. Bridie also owns a Tesla Model 3 and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.