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Tesla cancels Model S and Model X deliveries in Australia and other RHD markets
- cjrp 4y agoSounds like the same in the UK[1]. The S and X aren't big sellers here any more, so not surprising they're focusing on the 3 and Y instead. [1] https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/tesla-cancels-right-hand-drive-model-s-and-model-x https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/tesla-cancels-ri...
- rippercushions 4y agoSad but not entirely surprising: in recent years S and X sales have been a rounding error compared to 3 and Y, and they've got the Cybertruck and the rumored mass market 2 in the pipeline as well.
- redox99 4y agoCybertruck is mostly a truck for the US market, it won't sell much in the UK. The "model 2" however will definitely sell very well, probably outsell the 3 and Y combined in the UK (as the average car bought in the UK is much lower price than in the US).
- simondotau 4y agoThe Cybertruck is unlikely to be sold in any market outside of North America, let alone in a RHD market. In the unlikely even that Tesla ever brings this marque to another continent it will almost certainly be a physically smaller revision.
- drcongo 4y agoThe Cybertruck is unlikely to be sold in any market.
- cypress66 4y agoI'll gladly take a 1000 USD bet on that
- maeln 4y agoEh, I doubt that they wouldn't release it at some point, but I do expect some poor sales, except from Telsa fan. There is already good EV truck in the market and aside from a weird design, it doesn't seem that the cybertruck bring anything more to the table.
- simondotau 4y agoTesla has an extensive Cybertruck production line nearing full readiness in their massive factory in Austin, Texas. It is obviously a real product because the alternative hypothesis is beyond implausible.
- drcongo 4y agoYeah, they definitely won't miss this launch date like the last 3. It will definitely launch in the year of desktop linux.
- simondotau 4y agoAccording to TSLAQ consensus, Tesla will never release the Model 3.
- bluescrn 4y agoI'd be surprised if the angular design complied with regulations related to pedestrian safety in countries such as the UK, where AFAIK you can't have rigid hood ornaments or bull bars. As for size, larger vehicles/SUVs are fairly popular in the UK, probably in part due to the deteriorating state of the roads (potholes, speed bumps)...
- newZWhoDis 4y agoMuch like the roads, APCs will catch on as the country itself deteriorates. Cybertruck will do great in South Africa for example.
- DoughnutHole 4y agoI don't see the land of rolling blackouts taking up electric vehicles as the country deteriorates more.
- simondotau 4y agoYou're probably right, but if you've got enough solar panels on your house, you could potentially be even more self-reliant than if you were beholden to a liquid fuel supply chain.
- mensetmanusman 4y agoThey could install giant pink safety rubber nubs for the uk market.
- rippercushions 4y agoSure, but it's one more radically different platform consuming Tesla's engineering and production resources as a whole.
- simondotau 4y agoThis isn't unusual. There are plenty of vehicles which don't rely on sales outside of North America in order to justify their engineering costs. Indeed, the same story is true across the world, with the Japanese domestic market littered with "radically different" products which are exclusively designed for the domestic market.
- threeseed 4y agoCybertruck was pulled from sale in Australia. [1] And the head of the car safety organisation strongly implied it wouldn't be street legal. [2] [1] https://www.drive.com.au/news/tesla-cybertruck-pulled-from-sale-in-australia-thousands-of-customers-owed-refunds/ https://www.drive.com.au/news/tesla-cybertruck-pulled-from-s... [2] https://thedriven.io/2019/11/27/tesla-cybertruck-may-be-unsafe-for-other-road-users-says-australian-safety-chief/ https://thedriven.io/2019/11/27/tesla-cybertruck-may-be-unsa...
- simondotau 4y agoA person looks at photos of a pre-production vehicle which has not been homologated to the Australian domestic market and expresses their opinion about it. I mean it's a great bit of content for the publisher but the proof will be in the testing, not in a person's intuition. The head of an objective testing body should know better than this. And while I agree that the Cybertruck doesn't seem like a safe vehicle at first glance, Tesla's track record on passive/active safety should be enough to stave off any premature jumping to conclusions prior to the release of real test data. Also this quote was quite odd: “We’ve got a concern that Tesla is very interested in the occupants of the vehicle, but it can’t ignore the other road users as well.” This is a hideously disingenuous comment for the head of ANCAP to be making about a manufacturer that makes one of the safest cars on Australian roads. They seriously have "a concern" about the maker of vehicles which score extremely highly overall, and which matched or exceeded an equivalent Volvo EV in every category[0][1]? [0] https://www.ancap.com.au/safety-ratings/tesla/model-y/726c22 https://www.ancap.com.au/safety-ratings/tesla/model-y/726c22 [1] https://www.ancap.com.au/safety-ratings/volvo/c40-recharge/fcf71f https://www.ancap.com.au/safety-ratings/volvo/c40-recharge/f...
- gambiting 4y agoAs an anecdotal observation - the model S is pretty rare in the UK, but I see plenty of model Xs around. I'd love to see the actual sales numbers.
- drcongo 4y agoI see a lot more S than X in the UK. Maybe it's regional.
- kwhitefoot 4y agoWhy should they stop delivering? Just sell the LHD version. I am currently on holiday in the UK with my LHD Model S. It is not a problem to drive it here. Back home in Norway I drove a RHD drive Volvo 245 Estate for twelve years without any problem at all.
- wongarsu 4y agoI'd assume there are regulations in place that prevent that (outside of small-scale imports, collection cars etc). Otherwise lots of manufacturers would just sell LHD everywhere to make everything much simpler for them.
- gambiting 4y agoNope. There is no such rule, at least not in the UK. There are several manufacturers of exotic cars that only sell LHD versions here because RHD version isn't worth developing. For example Polestar 1 can only be ordered as LHD in the UK, or perhaps more famously, the Bugatti Chiron. It's only a question of whether your clients want your car so much that they will put up with having the steering wheel on the "wrong" side. Volkswagen can't just start selling an LHD golf here simply because your regular buyer wouldn't buy one, not because the regulations forbid it.
- skissane 4y agoI think UK has different rules because it is physically close to LHD markets, and motorists frequently travel to/from them with their vehicles. Whereas, in Australia, LHD vehicles are only street legal if they are either (a) historic (> 25 or 30 years old, depending on the state), or (b) you can demonstrate a genuine business need for some kind of highly specialised vehicle which is available only in LHD. There is far less demand for allowing LHD vehicles than in the UK, so the authorities can get away with being more stringent.
- fomine3 4y agoLHD vehicle is totally allowed here in Japan, minor of people prefer it because it feels like a imported car (especially exotic or US car lovers). Though most buyers prefer RHD (and LHD is deal breaker) because it's reasonable and sane.
- simondotau 4y agoWhen contemplating whether this is significant or controversial, it's useful to note that while Tesla are choosing to ignore RHD for low volume luxury products, General Motors chose to abandon RHD entirely, globally, across their entire product line, and across all sub-brands. In the UK, GM's brand was Vauxhall Motors. They sold that to PSA Group which in turn merged into Stellantis. In Australia, GM's brand was Holden Motors. They didn't even sell it to anyone, they just shut this iconic brand down.
- rsynnott 4y agoIs GM really trying to operate in markets outside the US anymore, tho? They seem to be effectively out of Europe, certainly.
- tibbydudeza 4y agoNo more small cars or sedans - just SUV's and US trucks.
- threeseed 4y agoNot sure how it is relevant. At least in the case of Holden it was specifically because the Australian government decided to stop subsidising the companies operations which was unprofitable otherwise. And so it was driven from that decision and not a change in strategy from GM.
- simondotau 4y agoIt's entirely relevant. In the case of Holden, the end of domestic subsidies wasn't a factor in GM's decision to exit RHD. With a historical lens it's obvious that GM's decision to exit RHD occurred prior to the moment when the Australian Government announced the end of manufacturer subsidies. What it did is change Holden's fate. With subsidies still in place, GM might have been able to find a buyer for Holden as they did Vauxhall. Without subsidies, all they could do is gut and strip the domestic Holden corporation of any remaining cash and assets.
- pavlov 4y agoI wonder if any of the left-hand side driving countries will make the switch anymore, or is the inertia too great and the benefits too small. Sweden switched to right-hand side driving on roads in 1967. They had already 2 million vehicles, so that was a major operation. The change was made overnight but professional drivers got a few hours’ headstart to get used to it. 1960s was a bad time for traffic accidents in general, so the transient human cost of the switch was probably lost in the overall poor safety statistics. I wonder what it would look like today. 50% more accidents in the first month? Or more?
- Lariscus 4y agoIt seems that the number of accidents actually dropped for a while after the switch in Sweden but it increased again after people got used to the change. [1] [1] https://realscandinavia.com/this-day-in-history-swedish-traffic-switches-sides-september-3-1967/ https://realscandinavia.com/this-day-in-history-swedish-traf...
- jonplackett 4y agoThey put it down to people driving very cautiously to begin with
- Mordisquitos 4y agoThen maybe the take-home message is that countries should switch driving sides every few years just to keep drivers on their toes.
- jonplackett 3y agoAfter the first few years it would be come too standard. We'd have to up the ante each time. How about left side until mid day and right side until midnight. Year after you have to drive backwards. Roads will be so safe.
- doubled112 4y agoHow would the cities handle this? If it was something they planned for, would signs be reversible, and traffic lights visible from both sides? Or would they pay people to slowly roll out the reversal, so that which side you should drive on was rather inconsistent?
- weinzierl 4y agoI wonder if it is possible to retrofit a LHD to an RHD?
- techwiz137 4y agoSure, but why? Is there a benefit? I know many people who buy cheap RHD cars to convert to LHD. Especially for luxury brands.
- johnwalkr 4y agoThis works for the case of a car designed for LHD and RHD with junkyard LHD parts available, if there RHD version happens to be cheap enough. Unlikely to work in the other direction, especially for a car that has no RHD parts available.
- mschuster91 4y agoVery, very difficult if the vehicle frame and engine bay hasn't been designed for that - stuff like cutouts for the steering wheel and pedals are difficult to retrofit.
- yardie 4y agoI’m not sure on the S and X. I have a LHD 3. The cutouts are clearly there under the passenger side dash. But you would need to replace a lot of parts: steering column, pedals, wiring harness, dash. From what I understand the S is quite convoluted under the frunk than the 3/Y . So building a RHD S is a lot more laborous than a 3/Y.
- johnwalkr 4y agoAnd if the vehicle isn’t made in a LHD variant then you’d have to make a dash from scratch, which maybe isn’t legal or at least is a liability if airbags are involved. The only similar thing I recall is this[1] way of “importing” an Australian Holden ute to America. It wouldn’t be worth it if you could legally just import the RHD version and would be impossible in the case of a Tesla where there wouldn’t be a local car made on the same platform.
- Neil44 4y agoDon't forget that the Model S is over 10 years old now, excepting a refresh here and there and sales seem to be slumping year on year for a while now. The X isn't that old yet but it has a lot more competition now and quite low sales. I rekon the S is due for replacement anyway in the next few years, maybe with something that replaces both the S and X.
- tedk-42 4y agoIf Tesla are true to their original vision, this is a good move. The low volume, high margin cars that were their original "get the idea on the ground and in a few peoples hands but not to the point where we'll trip over ourselves if we need to do a recall" business model got them to the point where they could suffer for a while during the Model 3 production issues but they weathered that storm and are now expanding their gigafactories globally. The electrified future means replacing a lot of passenger vehicles with electric alternatives and the low volume S and X are simply too expensive for most people and goes against the electrification goal.
- mytailorisrich 4y agoThe problem with "low volume, high margin" for Tesla is that this might have worked when they were the only ones on the market but their cars are not high end enough now that every brand has EVs.
- mensetmanusman 4y agoDepends on how you define high end. Everyone else is struggling on the software side - VW just had a bloodbath in that department.
- simondotau 4y agoReally, the raison d'être of the Model S and Model X was twofold. One: to prove that electric cars are not the poor cousin of the combustion car. They can be just as good and in some ways superior. Two: to make enough cash for Tesla to afford the third step in Tesla's Secret Master Plan (which Musk wrote in 2006). Both these reasons are now defunct. The EV no longer has anything to prove, and Tesla now has a much better source of cash in the 3/Y. I suppose the S/X still have residual relevance as a halo product for the Tesla brand, but they don't need them to be in every market to serve that function.
- mensetmanusman 4y agomulti-sku is super expensive. Australia and the UK will have to come up with their own home grown EVs.
- mvdtnz 4y agoOr buy EVs from one of the many manufacturers already offering them in RHD configuration, such as BMW, VW, Ford, Nissan etc.
- firecall 4y agoPretty sure they only just started taking orders again in Australia for the S and X! Still, the 3 and the Y sell like hot cakes!