Tesla Model 3 due soon

The Tesla Model 3 may be in New Zealand and Australia earlier than expected, although the cheapest standard range version isn’t likely until later.

Right-hand drive model builds will probably start in late May or June and start arriving “in winter”, Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk has tweeted in response to a question.

That’s led to speculation he means the Model 3 could arrive in New Zealand and Australia as early as July – unless he’s talking Northern Hemisphere winter, but probably in the standard range plus and long-range variants rather than the US$35,000 base model.

Guessing games over price put the Model 3 anywhere around NZ$63,000 to NZ$74,000.

Musk also notes in a tweet that prices on all Tesla inventory cars worldwide rise by 3% at midnight on April 1 (effectively April 2). “To be clear, this doesn’t affect Tesla website order prices,” he adds. “Existing inventory prices are currently slightly lower than on website. This will bring them in line.”

Musk also quotes reports the Tesla Model 3 “easily outsold all other BEVs (battery electric vehicles) in Europe in February 2019”.

That means March and April Model 3 sales could be “epically big”, according to InsideEVs.

It says the February sales were only for the two top of the line versions, not in all markets and not even for the full month.

“March should be a Model 3 sales tsunami,” InsideEVs suggests.