Doubts on LR made in US or made in China decision

[antonpirulero]

Hi, I was expecting an M3 LR AWD in Madrid (Spain) in November, but Tesla has changed my order by offering a Chinese made one instead. It has 5 kWh less battery, will be delivered in the first half of September and costs €2,000 less. The batteries seem to be LG instead of Panasonic, according to my salesman.

I'm not in a hurry to get the car (although it's nice to have it sooner) and I'm not too worried about it having slightly less battery either. However, I would be annoyed if the November model has some interesting new features, like a new computer, LFP batteries, considerable more range or similar.

What do you guys think? Should I say I'd rather wait for the Freemont car?

 

[JupiterMan]

China is now the export hub for Tesla, it is unlikely that any Fremont M3 will make their way to EU in the foreseeable future, but China M3 seems great, and range is better than the 2020 Fremont (Panasonic) versions.

As for future improvements, Tesla always improve their models and likely always will, so if you wait for the next big thing, you will end up never buying one at all!

If you need a car then just get it, and enjoy it - it's awesome!

 

[jurgens1]

I'm in the same boat. Been offered the LG version and I took the opportunity since it's 2000 EUR cheaper. The salesman assured me it's just 5% less capacity and nothing else. Bun now, after reading comments about the LG pack online, I'm having second thoughts about it. The charging seems to be a lot slower, and some say it's a cheap battery pack Tesla bought and used to complete the batch when they ran out of Panasonic batteries. So now I'm not sure anymore. Should I cancel and wait for the Fremont version coming in Nov?

 

[mr_zorg]

I got the same call as you guys. Based on the videos I've seen about MIC cars I accepted the offer without much hesitation.

Aren't we getting the same batteries as talked about here (just LR instead of SR+)?

 

[jurgens1]

No. MIC SR+ have LFP batteries which are of different chemistry (can be regularly charged to 100% etc). MIC LR doesn't have LFP batteries.

 

[Invicta]

No. MIC SR+ have LFP batteries which are of different chemistry (can be regularly charged to 100% etc). MIC LR doesn't have LFP batteries.

So are we getting better batteries? Asking this because I got the same offer in Portugal.

 

[WarpedOne]

No, MIC LR has LG battery that has a bit less capacity than panasnic/tesla from GigaNevada.
MIC LR has %5 less range than USA LR.

 

[Invicta]

And are we able to get those in Europe or will we get all our Teslas from China now?

 

[pawelp]

I was told by a Tesla sales person, that a Fremont car is unlikely in a foreseeable future, so I went with the MIC one.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

I'm in the same boat. Been offered the LG version and I took the opportunity since it's 2000 EUR cheaper. The salesman assured me it's just 5% less capacity and nothing else. Bun now, after reading comments about the LG pack online, I'm having second thoughts about it. The charging seems to be a lot slower, and some say it's a cheap battery pack Tesla bought and used to complete the batch when they ran out of Panasonic batteries. So now I'm not sure anymore. Should I cancel and wait for the Fremont version coming in Nov?

Not necessarily "cheap pack", but a bit of a rush job so they don't yet have a good handle on how it'll hold up.
Decide on the current capabilities, but it's possible that they'll unluck faster charging when they're more confident it'll be OK.

 

[Invicta]

I was told by a Tesla sales person, that a Fremont car is unlikely in a foreseeable future, so I went with the MIC one.

Also went with the MIC one. China is now the Hub for Europe so not much of a choice now.

 

[Tastee]

I think the M3Ps still come from CA.
A ranger stopped by to swap out the 12v battery a couple week back. He said he helps prep deliveries and the MIC ones are much better quality wise.

 

[Invicta]

I already got mine from MIC and it's spectacular. No panel gaps, the paint is Wonderfull. It really is something else.