Today saw the arrival of Tesla’s much-anticipated Model 3 order page. This revealed what Australians will be paying for the vehicle.
While the vehicle price is more than we expected (starting at A$66, rather than the $60k mark), it’s the options and fees that can send the price sky rocketing.
All Model 3’s come with Tesla’s Autopilot feature which enables your car to steer, accelerate and brake automatically for other vehicles and pedestrians within its lane.
Full Self-Driving Capability is an option that enables the car to automatically change lanes on the highway and park itself in both parallel and perpendicular spaces.
Coming later this year to Full Self-Driving is the ability to:
- Recognise and respond to traffic lights and stop signs.
- Automatic driving on city streets.
- Summon: your parked car will come find you anywhere in a car park. Really.
- Navigate on Autopilot: automatic driving from motorway on-ramp to off-ramp including interchanges and overtaking slower cars.
Here’s a video demonstrating that capability.
In Australia, FSD for Model 3 owners costs A$7,100. The good news is there’s no longer a penalty in the form of a higher price for those that choose to unlock that capability after purchase.
Below you can see the price impact different options have on the final price of a Model 3 in Australia.
The awkward part of the way the Model 3 prices landed in Australia is the price is right around the price that Luxury Car Tax kicks in and yes, there’s a healthy dose of Stamp Duty in there as well.
If you choose the Performance variant of the Model 3, you’ll be hit with $3,734 of Luxury Car Tax, $4,774 in Stamp Duty and a number of other fees that run you up to On Road fees totaling A$9,434.
This leaves buyers in an awkward position, chose to add the safer, Full-Self Driving feature, or opt out to save money and reduce your Luxury Car Tax.
If the Government was serious about road safety, they’d exempt Tesla purchases from Luxury Car tax when FSD is selected.
As many automakers are working on adding autonomous technology to their vehicles this shouldn’t be limited to Tesla, instead, any maker that can prove their technology stack is safer than humans, should be able to skip on LCT at least and possibly receive a discount on Stamp Duty.
Buying a Tesla? Please use our unique referral link for free Supercharging – https://ts.la/jason45054
Leave your thoughts in the comments.
The option I wanted, RWD long range isn’t there at this stage. ? We were at the Richmond Tesla Centre today and got a spin in the Model S. Awesome! JJ did say that the config page was very close. He was right.
Ron, that was my choice also.
I asked and Tesla advised me that for Australia the long range premium has essentially been replaced by the Performance without the added upgrade package. They also said that the difference in price from the Long Range to the Performance was 1,590 GBP (less than $3,000 AU) but you get the premium interior, larger battery and added performance.
It’s a difficult one unless I move to the US of A. The standard range will meet almost all my needs – but I want to do the occasional long distance off-the-beaten-track tour and for that the extra range would be gold. It’s a big additional investment if I want to meet that need. I suppose I could wait a year or two for battery prices to fall further but as I’m an early adoptor and I can’t see myself doing that!
The ACT government exempts EVs from stamp duty.
The Federal Government is not serious about fuel efficiency. Australians continue to pay excessive fuel costs (one estimate is $1 billion over the past 3 years) and Australia continues making avoidable fuel imports.
The higher ($75,000) Luxury Car Tax threshold for fuel efficient vehicles was introduced in 2009. For other vehicles it was then $57,180. 10 years later the fuel efficient threshold is essentially unchanged at $75,526 but the LCT for other vehicles is now $67,525. If the same indexation had been applied to the LCT for fuel efficient vehicles the current threshold would be $88,569.
Thanks for the info EVfusion, wasn’t aware that was on offer in ACT. Given SA’s support for renewables, I would have expected them to lead in this area.
Jason, the ACT is not doing too bad on the renewables front. It will be sourcing 100% of its electricity from renewables by later this year (ahead of target). The ACT also aims to install up to 36 megawatts of smart battery storage through its Next Generation Energy Storage program started in 2016.
An important detail – if purchased separately, FSD is exempt from LCT. For Australian orders, Tesla has NOT imposed a surcharge for the FSD option if purchased after the initial purchase. This is unlike other jurisdictions where you pay more for FSD after initial purchase, I assume so as to not impose an additional penalty on Tesla owners wanting FSD but not wanting to pay a 33% tax for the privilege.