Tesla has told customers that the first deliveries of the refreshed Model 3 performance variant will begin this week.
The Model 3 was relaunched last September, but it wasn’t until April this year that the top-trim Performance variant was included in the line-up. It now has a starting price of $80,900 before on-roads.
Model 3 Performance order holders are now receiving updates from Tesla to say that deliveries will start as early as this week.
One of these order holders Jeremy G, shared the update on a Tesla Model 3 Performance Facebook group, stating: “Australia is getting their deliveries!!!”. The deliveries are scheduled for next week in some parts of Australia.
Another excited order holder from Queensland confirmed that delivery of their Model 3 Performance was as early as this Saturday: “My Brisbane delivery is on Saturday! 22nd. Not too long now.”
The new Model 3 has several new interior changes over the other two variants. It includes heated and ventilated sports seats with more support for the driver and the front passenger. Along with that, there is a carbon fibre strip on the front dash, giving the interior a more sporty look.
On the outside, there are bigger changes with upgraded 20-inch wheels, a black front bumper splitter, a rear carbon-fibre spoiler, a Ludicrous badge on the rear and black sports bucket seats.
This variant is now Tesla’s fastest and most powerful car on sale in the Australian market. With the included track mode, the car can get up to 262 km/h.
The track mode in the new car is an upgrade over the previous model. This update has been tuned to work effortlessly with the new high-output powertrain and the adaptive suspension setup.
This high-output powertrain has the quickest acceleration of any car under $100,000, and can sprint from 0-100 km/h in just 3.1 seconds.
The Performance element of the new sedan does impact its claimed range. It achieves 528 km on the WLTP cycle, mainly impacted by the 20-inch sports wheels.
The news of the Tesla Model 3 Performance deliveries beginning has been well received. For many order holders, it’s been worth the wait and we look forward to hearing from owners after picking up what is considered by some to be a fantastic daily electric sportscar.
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.