Electric car buyers were stunned on Thursday when a Tesla Model 3 Performance was advertised 30% above what was paid for it new.
Posted on a well-known car sales site, the dual-motor high-performance EV is offered for a whopping $130,000 – about $30,000 above its price new.
As The Driven has reported here and here, the value of second hand electric cars has been going through the roof.
Inflation not withstanding, behind the value surge is a 12-month delay on delivery of new Tesla orders and the high demand for the Californian brand’s minimalist and high-performance vehicles.
With the Model Y still not available to order locally, Tesla Model 3 accounted for one in seven EV sales in 2021.
With many drivers willing to pay more to get their hands on one now, rather than wait, demand is driving up speculative offers.
The vehicle is a near-new 2022 Model 3 Performance, that sells new from Tesla for around $100,000 driveway (a little more or less depending on which state unit is purchased in.) It also has a white interior, adding $1,500 extra value.
With just 3,500km on the clock, the advertisement does not state that it includes Tesla’s Full Self-Driving package, a $10,100 add-on.
Although the vehicle has not yet been sold and therefore is not yet representative of resale value, the jacked-up price makes the Model 3 currently the most expensive one for sale in Australia.
A now-deleted post on an electric vehicle group on Facebook saw numerous comments from EV enthusiasts, with one joking they had already taken a deposit for it.
Another Model 3 is also for sale at $125,000. Offered at $5,000 less than the 2022 model, it is a 2021 Performance Model 3 with 2,680km on the clock.
According to data gathered by carloop, the latest advertisements are many thousands above recent Model 3 Performance resale values.
Data from March 2022 indicates that the average Model 3 Performance sells currently for around $9,000 more than its price new: about $108,000.
Likewise, the Model 3 RWD (previously known as the Standard Range Plus) sells for about $4,000 more than new, at around $73,500.
It’s important to note, however, that Model 3 prices have fluctuated considerably in the last 12 months. At a high, the Standard Range Plus sold new (before on-roads) for $73,900, and at its lowest price was just $59,990.
The Model 3 Long Range bucks that trend, selling for about $5,000 less than new, averaging at $76,330 compared to around $82,000.
The Ioniq 5 is also in high demand with tranches of new cars selling out within minutes. This is seeing near-new AWD Ioniq 5s offered for as much as $18,000 above the new price.
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.