Stunning: Tesla drops price of Model 3 to below $60,000 in Australia

Tesla has dropped the price of the Tesla Model 3 for the third time since October to an all-time low of $59,990, before on-roads, and before the $3,000 rebates in Victoria and NSW are factored in.

The price of the Model 3 in late 2020 sat at $73,900 before on-roads after the EV maker raised it from its initial $66,000, ostensibly to counter falling currency rates.

October saw it drop the base price to $66,900, then again in April to $62,900.

The latest stunning price drop brings the already top-selling electric sedan to a price 20% less than it was at that height, and ten per cent below what it was at its launch. It is in direct price competition with other electric mainstays on the Australian market such as the Hyundai Kona EV.

And it’s not as though Tesla needs a price drop to become more competitive on the Australian EV market; it is already the best-selling EV in the country, and with another 1,200 vehicles just landed it will remain that way for some time to come.

Importantly though, the latest price drop brings the Shanghai-made electric sedan within the budget of a wider audience, perhaps giving the final push to choose a Tesla over a conventional combustion engine vehicle.

It also makes good on a promise to utilise local parts and a cheaper lithium-iron phosphate battery made by CATL in China to lower the manufacturing costs, not only so the EV maker can profit from better margins but also to pass that on to drivers.

The latest price drop from the Californian EV maker comes shortly after the introduction of a $3,000 rebate in Victoria for the purchase of new electric vehicles, which means that the base Model 3 will cost just $61,425 driveway (although we note this will be offset by a controversial road user tax).

In NSW it will now cost $64,648 driveway, but in September that will fall dramatically with the $3,000 rebate and the stamp duty waiver. It now costs $62,517 driveaway in the ACT, $63,357 in Queensland, $64,527 in South Australia, $66,356 in Western Australia, $64,473 in Tasmania and $64,019 in the Northern Territory.

Word is that deliveries to NSW buyers have slowed, despite the recent army of Model 3s lined up at Port Kembla, no doubt as drivers opt to wait for the rebates to kick in.

The NSW EV plan for $3,000 rebate for vehicles under $68,750, plus a stamp duty exemption for vehicles under $78,000, will make the on-road price of a base Tesla Model 3 a true sub-$60,000 electric car.

The jaw-dropping difference in price means a NSW driver who bought a base Model 3 late last year for more than $72,000, will have paid about $13,000 more than they would now.

I know because I’m one of those drivers, but there’s no sour grapes. There is, instead, an immense pride in being one of those on the forefront of the greatest industrial revolutions of our time: that of the transition to a sustainable, clean energy world.