Waiting on a Tesla Model 3? You might be waiting a bit longer than initially expected.
Shipping tracker VedaPrime reports Tesla Australia “sales advisers are ringing and emailing everyone progressively to expect deliveries in the second half of the year”.
Customers on social media claim they’ve been contacted by Tesla spokespeople confirming their orders have been pushed back.
It’s not clear exactly when delayed orders will touch down during the second half.
Wait times for new Tesla Model 3 orders have blown out recently, from three weeks in October 2021, to between six and nine months in March 2022, and out to 12 months earlier in May 2022.
Orders for the Model 3 are still open, and all variants sold in Australia are built in China.
Tesla has been hit by the lockdowns in China, which forced the closure of its Gigafactory in Shanghai.
It’s now operating on closed-loop shifts, where employees sleep on the factory floor to cut down on movement, and isn’t expected to ramp back up to full speed for at least another week.
Despite the supply challenges it’s facing, the Tesla Model 3 is the best-selling electric vehicle in Australia by some margin so far in 2022. To date a whopping 4469 have been delivered locally.
Tesla is far from alone in facing supply struggles, however. Kia and Hyundai are both severely supply constrained on their flagship electric cars, Polestar was earlier this year forced to turn off its online configurator, and the Volvo XC40 Recharge range sold out quickly after orders opened in 2021.
MORE: Everything Tesla Model 3
