The wait time for a new Tesla Model 3 in Australia has blown out to an estimated window of between eight and 12 weeks according to the brand’s configurator page.

    That means no more Model 3s – the top-selling electric car in Australia by the length of the Flemington straight – until 2022.

    As recently as October 9 when last we checked the wait time had been as little as a week, and no longer than three weeks for the Standard Range +, four weeks for the Long Range, and six weeks max for the Performance.

    It’s well known that Tesla imports batches of Model 3s from its Shanghai plant, and builds to order, so with this in mind we’d be expecting a shipment in early 2022.

    To be honest, delays of three months as in this case (at worst) are still far shorter than what we’re seeing across much of the industry – months shorter than those being suffered by market leader Toyota for example.

    MORE: Australia’s Electric Car Launch Calendar

    As revealed here, the updated Model 3 that’s order-able now does get some enhancements in exchange: the new base model retains the $59,900 list price but has 43km more range (491km claim) while the Long Range now offers 614km cruising, up from 580km.

    Tesla tracker VedaPrime reports the bump in range is a result of larger battery packs for the Chinese-built Model 3, with the base model’s battery increasing from 50kWh to 62.3kWh in size and the Long Range upgraded from 75kWh to 82kWh.

    • 2022 Tesla Model 3 RWD: $59,900
    • 2022 Tesla Model 3 Long Range AWD: $73,400
    • 2022 Tesla Model 3 Performance AWD: $84,900

    All prices exclude on-road costsincluding delivery and order fees, stamp duty, and registration and CTP fees.

    MORE: 2022 Tesla Model 3 price and specs
    MORE: Tesla opens Superchargers to other brands

    MORE: Tesla valued at $1 trillion, selling 100,000 electric cars to Hertz
    MORE: 2022 Tesla Model Y review

    Mike Costello
    Mike Costello is a Senior Contributor at CarExpert.
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