Tesla Model S Australia FB Cover
Many Australians who’ve ordered a Tesla Model S have now been waiting years for delivery and are starting to become frustrated with the lack of communication about when their cars will arrive.
John Myers says he has been waiting over two years for his Model S Long Range.
“I ordered on the 10th December 2020 and then the refresh was announced in March 2021 and Tesla rep rang to ask my intentions on continuing my order as the price increased on the web 13K, I decided to not cancel my order even though it was really stretching the budget.” said Myers.
“A year later I received an email from Tesla with some good news that my original contract price would be honoured but no word on possible delivery time. Another 15 months has passed with no further correspondence and no idea of possible delivery date. I have found Tesla’s lack of information very frustrating.” he said.
Tesla email to John Myers regarding Model S delivery 11/12/21
Another Australian customer Geoff McEvoy has been waiting almost 18 months since he ordered his Model S on October 2nd 2021.
“Since the time of that order, I have heard nothing at all from Tesla concerning the progress of the order.
I understand that it is a big company with extensive reach, but even an email after waiting 12 months would be some small sign of, Dear Geoff, we haven’t forgotten you” said McEvoy
Geoff has started a facebook page called “Tesla Model S Australia” which has over 100 members, some of whom are also waiting for their cars to be delivered.
“We know European orders have commenced late last year and that China deliveries will commence in the first half of this year. But no word about RH (right-hand) drive countries.” he said.
McEvoy went on to say “I am a current Model 3 owner and a shareholder in the company. Both of which are demonstrations of my support for Tesla. It is with some trepidation that I suggest that this is not a two way street.”
Geoff McEvoy with Tesla Model 3
“I don’t need a big hug or a there, there it will be fine in the morning, just some communication regarding my $180,000.00 17 month old order.” he said.
Geoff has been so keen for information that he’s been doing his own detective work monitoring a youtube channel which does a Fremont factory flyover every Tuesday.
Geoff says that he pauses drone footage when it’s hovering over Model S inventory to check if anyone gets out of the right-hand side of the car which would indicate that RH production has begun.
North American customers prioritised over RH drive Australia
Tesla produced just over 70,000 Model S and X in 2022, all from their Fremont factory in California. North America is by far the biggest market for the S and X and many US customers are only waiting a few weeks or months to receive their orders.
Like the US, Europe and China are also left-hand drive and the new Model S Paid was spotted in Europe in November. It’s understood that many European customers have now received their orders and deliveries are beginning in China with reports of almost a thousand Model S and X cars spotted at a port in Shanghai last week.
Pete Thorne who runs the Tesla Owners Club of Australia (TOCA) is also waiting on a Model S. He gave his personal opinion (not TOCAs) on the delivery delay.
“I think they’ll only start delivering once there’s enough delivery volume to justify a right-hand drive production run” he said.
With most of the major markets around the world being left-hand drive, only Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Japan and Hong Kong are major right-hand drive markets.
Thorne said that the new Model S and X design isn’t as symmetrical as the pre-refresh models which means that more re-tooling is needed to switch production over to RH drive.
But it could happen anytime, Thorne said he has spoken to Tesla employees in Australia about the delays: “They said in true Tesla style we could get an email out of the blue with a couple hundred VINS (vehicle identification numbers) tomorrow but nobody really knows.”
Perhaps Tesla’s plan is to fill all the left-hand drive orders in Europe and China before switching over to right-hand drive production.
Longer wait comes with benefits for Aussie customers
But the longer wait times do come with some benefits. Australian customers will be receiving some of the new updates recently made to the Model S and X including the new Hardware 4 on-board computer and the new cameras and high definition radar.
Loyal Tesla customers like Geoff and John are part of what makes the Tesla community so strong in Australia. There are many Tesla fans down under who believe in Tesla’s mission and want to help see it grow in Australia which has one of the slowest uptakes of electric vehicles in the OECD.
Hopefully Tesla repays their loyalty and does a RH production run soon!
Keyword: Australians who’ve ordered Tesla Model S growing frustrated with wait times