The price of the Tesla Model S and Model X Long Range have increased by $A5,000, timed with a corresponding price rise in the US of $US5,000, meaning a bigger hit for US customers.
The new price in Australia for the Tesla Model S Long Range is now $A141,900 before optional extras and on-road costs, while the new price for the Model X Long Range is now $A161,990, also before optional extras and on-road costs.
The change, which went live on Thursday morning on Tesla’s Australia website, was not applied to the tri-motor Model S Plaid and Model X Plaid, nor its “mass-market” Model 3 and Model Y.
While the Model Y is not yet available in Australia, three Model Y EVs – a Standard Range, Long Range and Performance – were spotted arriving at an Australian port on Wednesday ahead of a launch later this year.
Tesla, like other manufacturers, has been under immense pressure this year due to a global chip shortage as well as supply chain pressures which has seen the Model 3 price increase in global markets – although not in Australia where a recent price drop brought it under $A60,000 before on-roads for the first time.
In June, Tesla CEO and co-founder Elon Musk blamed supply chain price pressure for the company’s further price increases on its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in recent months.
In response to a protest about the changes Musk tweeted, “Prices increasing due to major supply chain price pressure industry-wide. Raw materials especially.”
Moving lumbar was removed only in front passenger seat of 3/Y (obv not there in rear seats). Logs showed almost no usage. Not worth cost/mass for everyone when almost never used.
Prices increasing due to major supply chain price pressure industry-wide. Raw materials especially.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 31, 2021
At the company’s Q2 2021 earnings call last Monday (US time), he said that, “some of our costs were related to having to use a lot of airplanes to get parts around because of part shortages, so we’ll hopefully use fewer airplanes. That will improve our costs, but demand exceeds supply right now.”
Both the Model S and Model X were Tesla’s first foray into the global electric vehicle market, and Australia for that matter, but make up a small proportion of the EV maker’s sales mix since the introduction of its more affordable models.
This is especially so since Tesla shutdown its S and X assembly lines in early 2021 in order to retool for production of the new tri-motor Plaid variants, of which the Model S is now considered the quickest production vehicle ever made.
In its latest earnings report, Tesla said that it has sold just 2,340 worldwide of the S and X combined in 2021. None have been shipped to Australia in 2021 according to sources, and are expected to appear again in Australia until late 2022 according to Tesla’s Australian website.
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor 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 Y and has it available for hire on evee.com.au.