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So… Highland is out…

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It‘s 3 years since Plaid, makes me wonder if part of why they decided not to bother shipping RHD is because they knew another update was coming soon,

More likely because they are selling fewer than ~10 cars a year in the UK, so its just not viable to maintain.

See Search results for 'TESLA MODEL S ' - How Many Left? and look at the difference between the number registered in 2019 to 2023. If you go into each model and look at new registrations it is 1 or 2 if that. Same story for the model X.
 
More likely because they are selling fewer than ~10 cars a year in the UK, so its just not viable to maintain.

See Search results for 'TESLA MODEL S ' - How Many Left? and look at the difference between the number registered in 2019 to 2023. If you go into each model and look at new registrations it is 1 or 2 if that. Same story for the model X.
If you look at MS Perform ludicrous, it was more like 200 a year, still not massive though, maybe 500 a year if you include non Plaid, and may 2000 a year if you include MX and look at global RHD markets. Thats not even a mornings production once a year when you're making 2 million cars a year.

But I thought we knew the answer and it was purely technical, the motor size/placement in the front couldn't be reconciled with the steering column on the right hand side and so was not possible without a complete rethink of the design in that area..
 
More likely because they are selling fewer than ~10 cars a year in the UK, so its just not viable to maintain.

See Search results for 'TESLA MODEL S ' - How Many Left? and look at the difference between the number registered in 2019 to 2023. If you go into each model and look at new registrations it is 1 or 2 if that. Same story for the model X.
This is a little skewed I think, less people prepared to buy a luxury EV back when these where on sale on RHD in the UK. I looked at a P100D back when they were £140k and decided not enough for the money and brought a BMW M760Li instead.

Things have changed now but obviously the number of LHD registrations is going to be tiny so they’ve given up on UK in this space.

A quick google tells me the luxury car market in the UK is 9.2% of our car market. In the US it’s 5.3%. Yes of course a much bigger market overall in the US but it’s not insignificant in the UK if they can put out a car that people with the money want. A good amount of those sold will still be ICE currently but by 2030 / 2035 that’s solely EVs. If Tesla want a slice of that pie, they need to to turn up.
 
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As a side note, I hope Tesla do a Highland Plaid.
If they do a Highland Plaid, I’d likely buy one. I’d still prefer a Model S with air suspension but seeing as they’ve shut the door to that in the UK this would be the best we can do here. The fact they’ve put effort into improving the suspension also gives some hope around the ride quality.

I do fancy a Lotus Eletre but the software and Supercharger network on Tesla still has a big draw. Some of these other makes seem to be shipping EV’s with massive holes in their software, the Fisker Ocean could be a nice example of that. The Lotus I think is shipping with a good few things not there yet but not quite as bad.
 
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The fact they’ve put effort into improving the suspension also gives some hope around the ride quality.

Dunno if you've seen Bjorns review? He was driven and he asked the driver to cane it over the speed humps, and reported that he thought it was a lot better.

Whether that translates to arriving in great condition on a 12-hour door-to-door trans-continental drive I dunno ... but that's the sort of drive where I really appreciate the MS

I did enjoy the tight feel of the M3 when we had it (compared to MY). I wonder if I might be tempted by an M3P instead of an MS-P ...

The Lotus I think is shipping with a good few things not there yet but not quite as bad.

Unlike, you know, Voldem ... he-who-shall-not-be-named !

I've probably just got complacently used to it, but I like the way Tesla software works, and the amount of "stuff" it enables me to do. What I read of the rest is preventing me considering them
 

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I did enjoy the tight feel of the M3 when we had it (compared to MY). I wonder if I might be tempted by an M3P instead of an MS-P ...

Don't do it! I've covered more than 2,000 miles in a loan M3 LR since my poor thing limped into the Service Centre for a drive unit back in July. All it's done is make me want the S back and has galvanised my view about it being my last Tesla.

The 3 is a rapid and capable EV, if rather lumpen to steer around town. It is certainly a better fit for narrow UK roads. But while I can see why people might choose it, it remains the most tremendously uninvolving car to drive. It's like being at the wheel of a kitchen appliance. The sort of default choice refrigerator for people who have a strict budget and no desire to waste time researching fridge choices, and who will therefore buy the first discount Samsung they see after walking through the door at Currys, along with everyone else. I can't imagine why anyone who's been seduced by a Model S would want a Model 3 now.

PS loan car is also white which helps :D
 
I posted this in a couple places, don't know if it'll help anyone visualize how they would use it, but if it helps one person get a better perspective on the stalkless design, it's worth it.

So essentially... in your Model S owner's experience.. translated to the UK or the EU (where this post is living)

1) Gear selector works amazingly well in a Model S with an auto mode and a big screen right in front of your nose displaying a huge arrow. No such screen in the Model 3 and it looks like if there's is an auto selector mode, it has not been activated in the demo cars. I wouldn't trust this AT ALL.

2) The biggest concern shown by European customers are roundabouts, You come to this post and in your video you say " I don't have a great deal of experience with roundabouts".

Sorry.. I don't want to be passive aggressive but... seriously???????
 
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Don't do it! I've covered more than 2,000 miles in a loan M3 LR since my poor thing limped into the Service Centre for a drive unit back in July. All it's done is make me want the S back and has galvanised my view about it being my last Tesla.

The 3 is a rapid and capable EV, if rather lumpen to steer around town. It is certainly a better fit for narrow UK roads. But while I can see why people might choose it, it remains the most tremendously uninvolving car to drive. It's like being at the wheel of a kitchen appliance. The sort of default choice refrigerator for people who have a strict budget and no desire to waste time researching fridge choices, and who will therefore buy the first discount Samsung they see after walking through the door at Currys, along with everyone else. I can't imagine why anyone who's been seduced by a Model S would want a Model 3 now.

PS loan car is also white which helps :D
Hmm. I had quite the opposite reaction. When I drove an S I found it had a sloppy old fashioned feel to it, something someone in their 80s might appreciate. In contrast I found the 3 quite engaging to drive. But I guess these things are subjective.
 
So essentially... in your Model S owner's experience.. translated to the UK or the EU (where this post is living)

1) Gear selector works amazingly well in a Model S with an auto mode and a big screen right in front of your nose displaying a huge arrow. No such screen in the Model 3 and it looks like if there's is an auto selector mode, it has not been activated in the demo cars. I wouldn't trust this AT ALL.

2) The biggest concern shown by European customers are roundabouts, You come to this post and in your video you say " I don't have a great deal of experience with roundabouts".

Sorry.. I don't want to be passive aggressive but... seriously???????
1. It’s activated and works the exact same way. IMG_0210.jpeg
the only difference is the huge arrow is slightly to the right of vision just below the speedometer.

2. roundabouts are all but non existent here, not much I can do other than explain how I’d do it if the wheel was 180 or 270 degrees and I needed to press it. Other than driving in a circle in a parking lot in the middle of the night I don’t have a way to illustrate it.
 
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Dunno if you've seen Bjorns review? He was driven and he asked the driver to cane it over the speed humps, and reported that he thought it was a lot better.

Whether that translates to arriving in great condition on a 12-hour door-to-door trans-continental drive I dunno ... but that's the sort of drive where I really appreciate the MS

I did enjoy the tight feel of the M3 when we had it (compared to MY). I wonder if I might be tempted by an M3P instead of an MS-P ...



Unlike, you know, Voldem ... he-who-shall-not-be-named !

I've probably just got complacently used to it, but I like the way Tesla software works, and the amount of "stuff" it enables me to do. What I read of the rest is preventing me considering them
Yeah I did see his review, that he mentioned it was more like a German car in the suspension gives me some hope.

We've only done one long trip in the M3P since we got it and it was OK, this is one of the newer last gen now ones with comfort suspension. While that's still far more firm than air suspension I'm used to, the seats are pretty soft which makes up for it somewhat.

An improvement beyond that still, it would probably be good enough. No it's not going to match some soft air suspension car that also costs twice as much of course.

As you say at least with Tesla you know the software is somewhat reasonable, Superchargers are good and it's a very efficient car. Just give me Model 3 Plaid with three carbon wrapped rotors, 100kWh battery pack and 19 inch wheels for that bit more comfort vs 20's.

I do expect if they did this, would be even less reason to buy a Model S even in LHD markets. However maybe they will just sunset them. Also in the past if you wanted more power you needed a bigger car to fit the larger engine and cooling to go with it. With EV's I think BMW were testing a 2 series sized car with quad motors and over 1,000bhp at one point. I think technically they could fit far more power into a Model 3 if they wanted.
 
As you say at least with Tesla you know the software is somewhat reasonable, Superchargers are good and it's a very efficient car. Just give me Model 3 Plaid with three carbon wrapped rotors, 100kWh battery pack and 19 inch wheels for that bit more comfort vs 20's.
100kwh pack on a model 3 would be amazing. Add all of those things and there's no reason other than bigger size to buy a Model S.
 
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