The Tesla Model Y is being delivered en masse in the United Kingdom, a step that bodes well – to an extent – for the Australian EV market which is still awaiting reservations for the electric crossover to go live.
The official arrival of the Tesla Model Y in the UK, also a right-hand drive market, is significant for Australia as it indicates a local launch is stepping closer.
A video shared by Tesla Owners UK on Wednesday shows hundreds of Tesla Model Ys alongside Tesla Model 3s lined up at Southampton port on the weekend.
Just a few Model Y at Southampton last weekend pic.twitter.com/1p0mRE8CoD
— Tesla Owners UK 🇬🇧 (@TeslaOwnersUK) February 22, 2022
It followed the announcement that the first 25 Model Ys had been delivered to customers last Thursday, with confirmation from the Tesla Owners UK club that the new Model Ys include recent upgrades including acoustic glass, tinted rear windows, heated wipers and the AMD Ryzen chip which significantly speeds up touchscreen interface speed.
The first 25 or so new Model Y were handed over to the lucky UK owners just now! 😍
⚡️Laminated/Acoustic Glass✅
⚡️AMD Ryzen (latest CPU chip)✅
⚡️PPF preinstalled (rear doors)✅
⚡️No Parcel Shelf (Tesla retrofit🤞)
⚡️Acceleration Boost (£1500) ✅
⚡️ Heated Wiper✅ pic.twitter.com/HOkaYVznml— Tesla Owners UK 🇬🇧 (@TeslaOwnersUK) February 15, 2022
The momentous occasion was also announced on LinkedIn by Tesla UK and Ireland’s Tim Findlay, who shared some photos of the Delivery Day.
So, what exactly does this mean for the Model Y in Australia?
As Bryce Gaton notes in his article weighing up whether drivers should wait for the Model Y grin or “dive right in” with the Kia EV6, the arrival of many EV models on the UK market precedes a local launch.
Unfortunately for Australia though, in the case of the Model 3, there were three years between reservations opening and first deliveries as Tesla did the hard yards ramping up mass volume production. When the Model 3 arrived in the UK there were already thousands of drivers waiting for their orders to be filled locally.
For the Model Y, reservations opened in October 2021 in the UK, so there’s been a four-month wait there this time around.
While local reservations have not yet manifested here yet, we can’t take a guess the wait time will be the same for Australia but it’s pretty much certain that drivers will not be tormented with another three-year wait for the Model Y’s local launch.
Instead, a local launch date is more likely dependent on the ramping up of production at Tesla’s Berlin factory, from where UK inventory will issue once the factory is online. A video shared on Monday by Berlin watcher Tobias Lindh showed hundreds of Model Y lined up at the EV factory as the EV maker irons out production kinks ahead of the official final permit for volume production.
My new video from #GigaBerlin https://t.co/NjPm3iQGSf pic.twitter.com/DvBCnKRXW1
— Tobias Lindh (@tobilindh) February 21, 2022
Which variants will be made available in Australia is also up in the air. In the UK only the Performance and Long range Model Y are availabel to order, whereas in Hong Kong (also a RHD market) it is also possible to order a standard range RWD Model Y.
As for price, based on a ratio of Hong Kong prices compared to Australia, we expect to see the Model Y starting from around $66,000 if the RWD option is available, $77,000-78,000 for the Long Range and $89,000 for the Performance variant (all before on-road costs).
| $HKD | $AUD | |
| M3 RWD | $307,800.00 | $59,900.00 |
| M3 LR | $367,000.00 | $73,200.00 |
| M3 P | $415,800.00 | $84,900.00 |
| MY RWD | $337,800.00 | $65,738.21 |
| MY LR | $388,000.00 | $77,388.56 |
| M3 P | $435,800.00 | $88,983.69 |
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.