Tesla Model 3 in Australia

[PJF000]

My 1st post here, after my Model 3 reservation early March . I'll be near the bottom of the list, but that'll take no time at all to process.

I saw the Silver LHD one in the Brisbane Showroom earlier this year. At that time the Aus deliveries seemed far away, but now it's definitely getting exciting!
I drive a lot for work, so I listen to a lot of Tesla Podcasts, incl a German one that covers European news well. There's definitely a lot going on in the Tesla world.

Current Subaru Liberty Wagon GT owner. Running on Ethanol, so slightly more environmentally friendly than Petrol (renewable and lower emissions). That'll stay until the Model Y comes to Aus. The Model 3 boot opening is just not great :/.

I almost dismissed M3 completely because of the boot, but I can't wait another 3-4 years for the MY. And it started at US$4k more than Model 3, and has already had 2x US$1k price increases. So that'll put it at close to Aus$10k over the Model 3. That's too much for us atm, but the MY will eventually replace the ICE wagon.

Welcome Tom.
The price of the Y may have increased twice, but the real mover imho is the exchange rate. In 2 to 3 years our dollar should have bottomed in the 60's and may be heading for the mid 70's. Time will tell.

 

[Hovean]

We don't have any indication of pricing for the Model 3 in Australia yet, not even the Performance

This strikes me as being a good Me price indicator (If the link works):
NSW model 3 calculator

 

[mmui90]

This strikes me as being a good Me price indicator (If the link works):
NSW model 3 calculator

I meant from official sources. I'm very familiar with that spreadsheet

 

[houdini]

The tiny boot is what put me off too... in that regard, the Y looks like what the 3 should have been in the first place. Hopefully they make RHD Y's from the beginning and get them to Oz. I'd like one as my second car...

To be more precise the boot is actually massive, but the opening is more boot lid than hatch. I went and saw the red one in Chadstone again today and the boot goes waaay back and also has a big well under a hatch as well.

 

[houdini]

And since this thread is "Tesla Model 3 in Australia", I celebrated 3 years of waiting today! But at least there is now light at the end of the tunnel with the configurator to open up in April or May.

Having queued up overnight and being in the first 5-10 reservations: I feel your pain. I’ve been holding my prediction for a while that it’ be August at the earliest before we see a car so I’m going back form that and thinking June for the online configurator. I’m hoping August but it may be a month or two later. Still we’re into single digit months to wait and not years.

 

[paulp]

To be more precise the boot is actually massive, but the opening is more boot lid than hatch. I went and saw the red one in Chadstone again today and the boot goes waaay back and also has a big well under a hatch as well.

Agree the boot is massive, and will fit lots of tiny things with that opening. I put two 3m long trees in my S today.....cant do that in a 3 with that little boot slot.

 

[Stratman]

With Audi offering 8 years warranty on their battery (reserving over 10% capacity as safeguard) how long do you expect your Model 3 battery to last?

 

[rohan_aus]

Having queued up overnight and being in the first 5-10 reservations: I feel your pain. I’ve been holding my prediction for a while that it’ be August at the earliest before we see a car so I’m going back form that and thinking June for the online configurator. I’m hoping August but it may be a month or two later. Still we’re into single digit months to wait and not years.

I’ve heard from a few sources that Australia may actually see the configurator this month with first deliveries in June/July.

 

[TonyEm]

I took my daughters full size cello hard case down to chadstone (got a few odd looks) - and it fits in the boot of the 3. It gets my vote for that (but Ive got a leaf currently and the cello takes the passenger seat in that so i guess my bar is pretty low for 'more convienient'.

 

[tom_kauf]

Welcome Tom.
The price of the Y may have increased twice, but the real mover imho is the exchange rate. In 2 to 3 years our dollar should have bottomed in the 60's and may be heading for the mid 70's. Time will tell.

Yes, very good point. I remember the 0.60s of the mid 2000s. So even though it'd be nice if the exchange rate was a bit better for the Model 3 launch in Aus later this year (and the trend is in the wring direction), it could definitely be worse.

 

[tom_kauf]

I meant from official sources. I'm very familiar with that spreadsheet

I've been crunching a lot of numbers lately, thanks to the lack of official prices . And all the Calculators seem to be pretty accurate (I'm sure people have also seen these):
https://www.drivezero.com.au/cars/tesla/tesla-model-3-aud-calculator/
https://model3priceaustralia.com/

Some haven't updated to the latest prices, and the DriveZero seems to totally forget to add 10% GST (even though it says GST included).
But apart from that, it'll hopefully just be what Elon said '$US price in $AUD plus import duties and sales tax'.

So I get:
$US to $AUD price incl any options
+ AUD$2k Shipping (European Deliveries were almost exactly that, from what I've read)
+ 10% GST
+ Stamp Duty (varies between States, but the Calculators work it out well). QLD is easy with a flat 2%.
I don't count Rego and CTP, since any car has that. Unfortunately no advantage over eg. 4cyl cars in QLD, but at least it's the cheapest category.

 

[raynewman]

The Model S, at least, has cheaper rego in Qld than a four cylinder - it's *one* cylinder.

 

[raynewman]

With Audi offering 8 years warranty on their battery (reserving over 10% capacity as safeguard) how long do you expect your Model 3 battery to last?

The eight year battery warranty is a US requirement - so no option there.

 

[Stratman]

I’ve heard from a few sources that Australia may actually see the configurator this month with first deliveries in June/July.

It would make sense to open up configurator for RHD for both the UK and Australia together. If I was in supply chain I would want to know how many RHD I need to build. Not sure how easily their production line can switch between LHD & RHD or if they can build both at the same time

 

[rohan_aus]

It would make sense to open up configurator for RHD for both the UK and Australia together. If I was in supply chain I would want to know how many RHD I need to build. Not sure how easily their production line can switch between LHD & RHD or if they can build both at the same time

Judging by the design, literally the steering wheel and pedals are the only things that need to be moved to the right-side. Everything else is done via software. And considering the pedals are drive by wire, I'm sure the bolt holes already exist on both sides of the vehicle and they can just move them across, same with steering. Only other thing would be the seatbelt clips, the release button is black in the states, but are required to be orange in Australia.

 

[raynewman]

Judging by the design, literally the steering wheel and pedals are the only things that need to be moved to the right-side. Everything else is done via software. And considering the pedals are drive by wire, I'm sure the bolt holes already exist on both sides of the vehicle and they can just move them across, same with steering. Only other thing would be the seatbelt clips, the release button is black in the states, but are required to be orange in Australia.

Different charge socket, orange indicators (red in the US). I'm sure there's a heap of that.

 

[miimura]

Different charge socket, orange indicators (red in the US). I'm sure there's a heap of that.

I would think the most relevant comparison would be regulatory differences between Australia and other markets like the UK and Hong Kong that are both RHD and Type-2. Japan seems to be unique in that it is RHD and uses the Tesla proprietary inlet like North America.

 

[houdini]

I’ve heard from a few sources that Australia may actually see the configurator this month with first deliveries in June/July.

I’m assuming these are verified, guaranteed sources

 

[paulp]

It would make sense to open up configurator for RHD for both the UK and Australia together. If I was in supply chain I would want to know how many RHD I need to build. Not sure how easily their production line can switch between LHD & RHD or if they can build both at the same time

I suspect the bigger issue is the flack tesla get from “falling” deliveries. Unfortunately they count a delivery as an actual customer delivery rather than loaded on the truck / boat. This means overseas deliveries have a big impact on tesla’s quartlery reports, so they need to balance that with US deliveries to keep the sharemarket and media happy.

 

[mmui90]

Judging by the design, literally the steering wheel and pedals are the only things that need to be moved to the right-side. Everything else is done via software. And considering the pedals are drive by wire, I'm sure the bolt holes already exist on both sides of the vehicle and they can just move them across, same with steering. Only other thing would be the seatbelt clips, the release button is black in the states, but are required to be orange in Australia.

The middle screen is actually also slightly tilted towards the driver, so I suspect there are a couple parts they will need to make mirror images of and re-test manufacturing unfortunately.