So far in 2022, Tesla has been the best selling EV brand in Australia. Despite delivering less than 300 cars to Australian customers over the last three months, it still holds a significant lead over other brands with deliveries exceeding more than 4,500 EVs in the country.
Even with this lead, the backlog means that some customers who put in their orders last December are still yet to receive confirmation that their car has been built and is on its way.
That’s finally starting to change. In the last 24 hours, some customers of the best-selling EV in Australia are reporting that their cars have finally been produced.
So what does this mean for thousands of Tesla Model 3 order holders who are anxiously waiting and are yet to receive their cars?
Newly produced Tesla Model 3 EVs are finally being prepared for shipping
In the last 24 hours, some Australian Tesla Model 3 holders are reporting that they have managed to locate the VIN for their vehicle. These reports are coming in from various different social channels including the Tesla Motor Club’s Australian forum.
Some of these Tesla order holders originally placed their orders back in November 2021 while others are as recent as January 2022. These cars will now be prepared for shipping from Shanghai to Australia when a suitable vehicle carrier is available. This is good news for many customers waiting well over seven months since ordering their EVs.
Model 3 Performance production limited so far
So far, the produced cars for Australian order holders have been limited to the base RWD & Long Range models.
The base RWD model now starts at over $65,500 after the latest round of price increases this month. The same car was under $60,000 when many of the currently produced cars were purchased which is nearly 10% under what new customers are paying 6 months later.
The rest of the owners with these newly allocated VINs are reporting the production of their Long Range model. Out of the 4,400 Teslas delivered to Australia in 2022, this variant accounted for just over 14.5% of the Tesla EVs so far according to Australian EV market data from carloop.
This means not many of Tesla’s most expensive Model 3 version that nudges the $100,000 drive-away price point, the Performance variant, orders from last year have been produced. This variant has only accounted for just over 4% of all Model 3 deliveries this year until May.
Good news for new Tesla customers and EV uptake as a whole
With the fuel prices not showing any signs of going backwards, many of these Tesla Model 3 customers with produced cars will be a bit relieved.
They’ve waited many months for an update and this would be good news for not only them but for thousands of others waiting to get behind the wheel of their first EV.
Since the Shanghai plant is producing right-hand drive cars this week, more Australian-bound cars are set to be produced. That’s great news for a bumper second half of EV deliveries this year and for EV uptake in Australia as a whole.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.