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Tesla in Australia

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The depreciation (of Tesla EVs at least) is because even Tesla reckon in a few years the reduced cost of high capacity battery packs will make the cars cheaper to produce and there will be other economies of scale and possibly incentives [LCT in particular] which aren't available to current buyers. Any factor which will make the Tesla cheaper to purchase new in the future will automatically impact the resale value of models that precede that date.

This may not be so much of a factor with the Leaf since it is produced by a company with existing economies of scale, is not subject to LCT, and uses a smaller battery pack. One of the reasons I almost forgot about Tesla was because I was also a little doubtful whether we would see them produced in such volumes or over here given that people have been waiting three years already (and I haven't got that kind of patience, kudos to all of you). I have some other technology that I paid a deposit on about four years ago (thankfully a lower value item) that I'm still awaiting to make mass production but the company is still promising to deliver ...

ICE cars will eventually become unattractive to the general population particularly if they are incentivized to buy electric but that's probably close to a decade away and then there will be other factors in the market to consider like driver-less vehicles. And a segment of the Australian population will always love their aging Cruisers and Patrols.

Prius's I don't really understand, particularly in Oz. It has no power and you get as good fuel economy with a cheaper or similarly priced diesel vehicle such as the Ford Fiesta or Volkswagen Golf. The battery pack also isn't very well protected (I know someone who fried a couple on dive trips until he realized salt water was killing the battery).

Now the arrival of both the Tesla S and X appears imminent I'm getting a little too excited.
 
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I think it'll be interesting to watch the factors that influence car value into the future. Size of course will always be an issue, but I think that as virtually all EVs will have excellent performance by today's ICE standards, the real determinant will be battery range and condition, and features available with the car. If replacement batteries become cheap enough then even this may make little difference. Maybe it'll be the presence or absence of 'free recharging' from Superchargers, sort of turning the inkjet business model on its head?
 
And over time as productions costs lower, early release Teslas will likely depreciate much more rapidly than similar class ICEs. Maybe not a big deal if you don't turn over vehicles very often but if you change cars every 3-5 years could make a big difference.

I disagree here. I'd expect that they will depreciate faster than we have seen before, but in line with their ICE equivalents since the ICE will cost so much to operate. You also need to consider that the depreciation at the top end of the car market is savage already - have a look at how quickly an A8 depreciates...

If you want to save money in the mid term, then buy an inexpensive second hand diesel. Cheap to fuel, has already depreciated, and there is a low cost of money. If you spent $25k on it and invested the $100k plus then you'd be better off than buying a Tesla. Its a depreciating asset, not an investment. Personally, I'm going to drive and enjoy it for at least 3-4 years and decide what to do next later. I've driven my old Porsche for 14 years now as I couldn't find anything that I liked more until I drove the roadster. Even then it was too small and limited for me to use as my daily driver - and lacking quite a few creature comforts (poor stereo, no power mirrors, no memory seats, etc etc). If the changeover price/loss is bad then I'll probably keep driving the S for a similar amount of time.
 
So James from TM called me this morning to tempt me with a test drive and answer any questions so what I came away with was this:

1) There are NO immediate plans for a service centre in Perth and because of the distance to the nearest service centre Perth orders won't be delivered until there is one
2) Orders placed in Australia today will be delivered around January or February next year, i.e. current lead time is about 6 months
3) The Model X in Australia is 18 to 24 months a way

So based on that info I told him that if he can confirm by the end of the calendar year that a service centre will be open by the end of the financial year I would place an order on the Model S P85. He said he'd be sure to let me know ...
 
Thanks. I guess that being a P+ it goes into production at the head of the line. You will probably get delivery by end September, as I guess that transit time should be 6 weeks.

Maybe....but I am a P+ fully optioned Sig so not sure that this is the difference - I am higher as far as reservation numbers go....

I am off to the US for 10 days 6th October so I expect delivery on the 5th.....
 
Exciting news! Will they ship the car if the service centre in Brisbane isn't ready or does it sit around at the factory?

My understanding is that all Signature orders will be made available for collection from an existing service centre.

From what I have read on the Forum it would appear that the same does not apply to production orders.