Tesla drops Model 3 price

Tesla has reduced the price of its Model 3 variants in Australia and New Zealand by several thousands of dollars or nearly 6%.

In New Zealand, the price for the Model 3 Standard Range Plus has dropped by about NZ$5000 to NZ$69,900 – while in Australia it has dropped about A$4000 to A$62,900.

The Model 3 Long Range price has reduced by a similar amount – to NZ$87,900 and A$77,900.

The Performance variant is only about A$1000 cheaper in Australia by comparison, now costing A$89,900.

The latest price reduction is understood to relate to the Made in China Teslas now available to Australian and New Zealand customers.

Tesla aimed to lower Model 3 manufacturing costs, including by localising parts supply and using the cheaper lithium-ferrous (iron)-phosphate battery from China’s CATL to help reduce cobalt.

The price drop is expected to boost Tesla sales in Australia and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Tesla has provided new US crash data for the first quarter of this year which shows one accident for every 4.19 million miles (6.743m kilometres) driven with Autopilot engaged, and one accident every 2.05 million miles (3.299m kilometres) without Autopilot but with active safety features.

That compares with US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) figures of a crash every 484,000 miles (778,922km).