Tesla Model 3 In Australia: How Does It Compete?
Credit to Author: Johnna Crider| Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2019 05:58:39 +0000
Published on September 13th, 2019 | by Johnna Crider
September 13th, 2019 by Johnna Crider
Tesla just recently introduced the Model 3 to Australia, on the first of September. How does the Model 3 compete in Australia? Media outlets in Australia are already reporting sales in the thousands, but initial sales don’t necessarily signify competitiveness. Or do they?
Model 3 has arrived in Australia 🦘 pic.twitter.com/lXpeWxG4Pj
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 1, 2019
The Driven, an Australian news and electric vehicle analysis website, published an article that leaned into the above question. The article, “Model 3 sales in Australia already in ‘thousands’, tipping scale of adoption,” gives us a quick insight into how starved the market was for Tesla in Australia. Referring to an article from TechAU, Jason Cartwright, creator of TechAU, writes in his article that, “I can confirm that Tesla has received ‘thousands of orders’ and the delivery team is trying desperately to get those orders to customers. Some would say, they’re in delivery hell.” The article headline noted that the Model 3 quickly became the top selling electric vehicle in the country.
Jason isn’t just the creator of TechAU, though. He has a Model 3 on order and was beginning to run out of patience, especially because his delivery was expected in August … and it’s no longer August. He does have some ideas as to how Tesla can improve on a few things, such as communication. He explains that the excitement turns into frustration on the forums and it’s usually because of a lack of updates from Tesla.
Maybe if Tesla mobile apps could send push notifications at each stage of the production and delivery process this could help ease some of those frustrations — automating the communications this way would be easier for the small team in charge of deliveries in Australia’s capital cities, especially since the numbers are in the thousands.
I definitely think having push notifications that update you on the stages of your delivery is a genius idea. Jason penned in his article that he didn’t quite see how they haven’t thought of that. Maybe they have, or maybe Tesla has been so busy creating cars and solar energy products that the idea hasn’t even crossed the minds of its engineers. That’s why we’re putting it out there. Jason is right. I’ve seen a lot of folks on Twitter mention the same type of frustrations — frustrations that usually turn to sheer joy as they receive their cars.
In August of 2019, The Driven also reported that the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries shows the sales of zero- and low-emissions vehicles have doubled in 2019 compared to 2018 — despite the fact that Australia has seen its 17th consecutive month of declining auto sales. Clearly, more and more of the market wants electric vehicles, especially Teslas.
Tesla has been competing very well in Australia. Right now, it’s the leader of the electric vehicle revolution all because of that cutting edge tech — an edge that will be sharpened continually, including via better communications with customers.
When it comes to luxury cars, CarAdvice reported earlier in 2019 that sales have returned to where they were five years ago and that the premium market is battling for traction. The article goes on to reflect findings from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, which shows that the four top-selling premium brands have actually taken a fall.
Mercedes-Benz dropped 131%, BMW dropped 2.4%, Audi dropped 11.8%, Land Rover took the largest drop among the four — 23.1%. Among other brands that took drops in sales were Porsche (-12.8%), Mini (-3.3%), Infiniti (16.4%), Maserati (-13.2%), and Bentley (-5%). Just as the Model 3 is coming to Australia, competing luxury brands are seeing hard falls. Related? It’s too difficult to say at this point, but let’s look at how the Model 3 competes against some of the top models from those automakers.
The Model 3 is essentially the same price as “competing” premium-class cars. However, fuel (electricity) and operational costs will be much lower for the Tesla. So, in essence, the Model 3 is much more competitive, and by many important measures it’s also an objectively better car than any of its gas or diesel competitors. Just looking at upfront prices, though. We found the following base prices for these gas/diesel models (and the Model 3 in Australia):
We’ll come back to more total cost of ownership articles, but it’s clear up front that similar pricing at this stage will leave the Model 3 as a much lower cost vehicle over a few years or more in most normal situations. Therefore, Model 3 demand should be quite high, like it has been in other markets in North America and Europe. No doubt about it.
Not only is the Model 3 price competitive with other cars in its class, and likely cost-competitive with much more mainstream cars like the Mazda 3 and Toyota Corolla on a total cost of ownership basis, but it’s basically the safest car on the market (based on US and European test results), it’s the highest tech car on the market (aside from the other two Tesla models), it’s the quickest car on the market. Here are a few figures on the final matter regarding Tesla, Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz models (in terms of 0–60 mph times):
Johnna Crider Johnna Crider is a Baton Rouge artist, gem and mineral collector, and Tesla shareholder who believes in Elon Musk and Tesla. Elon Musk advised her in 2018 to “Believe in Good.” Tesla is one of many good things to believe in. You can find Johnna on Twitter