Tesla in Australia

[jeff_adams]

i believe the answer is 'yes'.

i have a factory tour next week, while photos and the like aren't allowed, i'll keep an eagle eye out for LHD vs RHD vehicles.

They are suppose to deliver to the UK soon, but I don't believe I've seen any RHD cars in any pictures.

 

[president_ltd]

Nice work, I'm jealous. Are factory tours available for any Australian reservation holder? I'm probably visiting the bay area in a few months and would love to check it out.

No idea if its available for any AU reservation holder or not.

In my experience, I've found Tesla to be responsive to anything you ask.
I've generally just emailed Naomi but with Sam coming onboard I guess that would be the process.
I had a test drive a number of visits ago that was organized and it was fantastic. I asked about a factory tour next week and they were responsive.
You just need to ask. There is no downside to asking, the worst they could do is say "no."

 

[heosat]

Nice work, I'm jealous. Are factory tours available for any Australian reservation holder? I'm probably visiting the bay area in a few months and would love to check it out.

They are. I did one in November.

 

[SteveWest]

I wish I had more concrete news for you antipodeal types, but the best I can contribute here is that a talk with family in NZ yesterday prompted them to tell me they've begun to hear that Teslas shortly will be available there, too.

They heard wrong. Tesla aren't shipping cars to NZ this year.

 

[gizmonty]

Well I received communication from Tesla last night from the Melbourne sales rep (Cary Clark). He says he will be relocating to Melbourne in the next month, and he will have a Model S demonstrator with him. No information on prices yet. Of note, he says there are over 100 people interested in the Model S in Melbourne. Presumably a lot of expressions of interest without a deposit have been made (based on the number of reservations that are known about). Anyway, this is great progress.

 

[AudubonB]

They heard wrong. Tesla aren't shipping cars to NZ this year.

Doesn't "shortly" mean "in a decade or two" in Kiwi-speak? I must be confused.





I usually am.....

 

[houdini]

Well I received communication from Tesla last night from the Melbourne sales rep (Cary Clark). He says he will be relocating to Melbourne in the next month, and he will have a Model S demonstrator with him. No information on prices yet. Of note, he says there are over 100 people interested in the Model S in Melbourne. Presumably a lot of expressions of interest without a deposit have been made (based on the number of reservations that are known about). Anyway, this is great progress.

Except that interest without pricing info is pretty meaningless. I'm one of the hundred but only if it's $75,375 or less (LCT limit). If it's over that I'm out and I reckon a lot of people will be out if it's $120K. I don't even want to go look at one or test drive it if it's over $100K as we'd just be wasting each others time.

 

[alexeiw123]

Have any of the reservation holders asked if the au models will have the indicator on the right or left of the steering column? I'd assume they will be the same as the UK. Not that it really matters a great deal.

 

[MDK]

Have any of the reservation holders asked if the au models will have the indicator on the right or left of the steering column? I'd assume they will be the same as the UK. Not that it really matters a great deal.

The steering column and selector stalks are Mercedes parts, does anyone know what the layout on a comparable Aussie-spec Mercedes is?
I did some hunting around for photos or videos a few months ago, and I did see a video review of a UK Merc with the same stalks, and it had the indicators (and cruise control) on the left and the gear selector on the right.

 

[TesAus]

The steering column and selector stalks are Mercedes parts, does anyone know what the layout on a comparable Aussie-spec Mercedes is?
I did some hunting around for photos or videos a few months ago, and I did see a video review of a UK Merc with the same stalks, and it had the indicators (and cruise control) on the left and the gear selector on the right.

We have had two Mercedes cars and the indicator and cruise stalks have been on the left (as are two other european built cars). Japanese built cars (Lexus and Toyota) have had them on the right hand side of the steering wheel.

- - - Updated - - -

Except that interest without pricing info is pretty meaningless. I'm one of the hundred but only if it's $75,375 or less (LCT limit). If it's over that I'm out and I reckon a lot of people will be out if it's $120K. I don't even want to go look at one or test drive it if it's over $100K as we'd just be wasting each others time.

Not that it is necessarily the most accurate source of info, but this month's Wheels magazine (top of page 28 in April 2014 edition) suggests that pricing would start from about $90k in Australia. The very brief couple of paragraphs refer to the transparent pricing policy of Tesla so I assume that they have worked it up from that.

 

[salamagd]

I'm one of the hundred but only if it's $75,375 or less (LCT limit).

That's just not going to happen, unfortunately, as much as I'd love it to be the case. The base 60 kWh version has an MSRP of $69,900 in the US right now, not including delivery etc. That's well over $77k converted to AUD, not including any of our additional taxes and charges, or delivery to Australia. Even assuming Tesla are planning to provide their transparent pricing to Australia, we can expect a minimum of around $4k on top for delivery and local homologation charges, using Hong Kong pricing as a reference, plus of course the LCT and GST, bringing the total to around $91k. This is assuming that the 5% import duty for cars from the US is waived as a result of the FTA, if not, add an additional $4.5k on top of that. For the 60 kWh with just a few options (eg. tech package, metallic paint etc) I really wouldn't expect to see much, if any, change from $100k.

Not that it is necessarily the most accurate source of info, but this month's Wheels magazine (top of page 28 in April 2014 edition) suggests that pricing would start from about $90k in Australia. The very brief couple of paragraphs refer to the transparent pricing policy of Tesla so I assume that they have worked it up from that.

That sounds pretty much spot on to me.

 

[houdini]

That's just not going to happen, unfortunately, ..., plus of course the LCT and GST, bringing the total to around $91k. This is assuming that the 5% import duty for cars from the US is waived as a result of the FTA, if not, add an additional $4.5k on top of that. For the 60 kWh with just a few options (eg. tech package, metallic paint etc) I really wouldn't expect to see much, if any, change from $100k.
.

Thanks, yes I am expecting that actually. It's a bummer because I can't lease as there's a policy at work that the vehicle must be below the LCT threshold. That's the only way I could afford one

 

[TesAus]

Thanks, yes I am expecting that actually. It's a bummer because I can't lease as there's a policy at work that the vehicle must be below the LCT threshold. That's the only way I could afford one

I am assuming you are talking about a novated lease? The tax benefits are a lot less than they used to be unless your employer is picking up the fringe benefits tax bill (most wrap it
in to the lease cost). Also as the model S should have low running costs you aren't getting the benefit tax wise on that.

There are a number of organisations that can do leases including some of the banks - it may be worth checking out to see how different it would be doing it post tax and claiming any business use separately.

Either that or find a new employer!

 

[Mark E]

@houdini

If you own property and have good credit then you are probably better off arranging your own finance rather than using a leasing company anyway. I'm assuming since you are talking about a lease and a work vehicle then you are claiming a percentage of this against tax. If not, disregard what I am saying, and in any case, talk to your accountant before doing anything.

If you can, arrange for a facility secured against your property for the car, at 5 years interest only.
Calculate your payments as per a lease and put the difference in payments into a separate (interest bearing) account each month, paying only the interest on the facility.
Since we are talking about a work related vehicle expense, you can claim the interest off of your tax (up to the LCT) depending on the amount that you actually use the vehicle for work purposes. You will need to keep a log book for 3 months every 5 or so years.
At the end of every year you also claim the depreciation on the vehicle up to the LCT limit. When you get your refund, also deposit that return into an interest bearing account.

You will need to declare any income from the interest bearing account. At any time, you can sell the car and use the 'saved' cash to help pay out the difference. Using this method you should be able to get a lower interest rate, and are effectively creating your own lease. If you can afford the lease payments normally then this method should not be any more expensive for you - but you will need to be disciplined and not spend the saved cash-flow somewhere else!

In any case, the LCT is the biggest issue that Tesla needs to push with the Fed Govt. Even if the tax is still payable, we are disadvantaged with EVs against a petrol/diesel vehicle since with an EV you pay extra for the batteries and very little for fuel, whereas in a ICE the initial cost is lower and you still get to claim the fuel and service costs. I have calculated that the rough point where the taxation treatment of EVs becomes equitable is around $100k.

At this stage you should look at anything above the LCT limit as a personal expense, since you cannot claim anything for it - even in my scenario above.

 

[houdini]

I am assuming you are talking about a novated lease? The tax benefits are a lot less than they used to be unless your employer is picking up the fringe benefits tax bill (most wrap it
in to the lease cost). Also as the model S should have low running costs you aren't getting the benefit tax wise on that.

There are a number of organisations that can do leases including some of the banks - it may be worth checking out to see how different it would be doing it post tax and claiming any business use separately.

Either that or find a new employer!

Thanks for the info and input guys. I've had leases before and sometimes they are good for the bottom line and sometimes not. The key difference in the scenario I'm in now is that my employer will be picking up the FBT and also paying for 33% of the lease costs due to a grandfather clause. So even though there's no fuel costs to factor in I'll still come out way ahead using this lease deal. But they are strict in that it has to be below the LCT threshold .

 

[Mark E]

@houdini
You are out of luck there. A base model 60kWh with NO extras is $US80,761 (don't forget that there is a $7500 rebate in the US). Your only option is to investigate if you can kick in your own cash for anything above LCT. I'd assume that Tesla would build some buffer into the exchange rate based on where they think the dollar will be, so even at 88c you are looking at $AU91,774.

 

[alexeiw123]

You might be waiting on Tesla selling used, repaired and ex demo models...

I might be too haha!

 

[772]

@houdini
You are out of luck there. A base model 60kWh with NO extras is $US80,761 (don't forget that there is a $7500 rebate in the US). Your only option is to investigate if you can kick in your own cash for anything above LCT. I'd assume that Tesla would build some buffer into the exchange rate based on where they think the dollar will be, so even at 88c you are looking at $AU91,774.

That must be the AUD price... the base 60 in the US is ~$71k USD before the $7.5k rebate. The final price in Australia will likely be higher due to shipping costs (est. ~$2500 USD) and any import tariffs. If you know the applicable Australian import duty rate, you can get a very good estimate of pricing.

 

[Lerxt]

Don't forget to add the "Australia Tax" on top of that.. Should make it about double....

 

[Mark E]

@772 - yep, sorry my mistake - its $US72240 plus taxes. $62400 plus $1170 delivery plus the $7500 rebate, that means $AU82090 at 88c, without import duty, GST or Registration.