Tesla Model Y interest peaks in Australia as Shanghai production ramps up
Tesla Model Y has been a huge success in Australia for the biggest EV maker in the world.
This SUV was launched just under 2 weeks ago and has already racked up over 10,000 orders.
Today, we look at data that supports the popularity of the Model Y locally and see what Tesla is doing to ensure we get the cars delivered on time.
New data from Google Trends reveals huge interest in Model Y.
Comparing Tesla Model Y to 3 other popular cars shows a huge increase in Australian search inquiries on Google in June.
There was a particular spike in search results on Friday, June 10 when the Tesla Model Y was officially launched.
It showed a ten-fold increase over the day before.
The search interest started to increase after
exclusive images of the Tesla Model Y appeared on The Driven on June 9.
Before that, Model Y local searches were indexed on Google with a score of about 2.
With this high interest in the right-hand drive Tesla Model Y, the question turns to what Tesla is doing to ensure the wait times are not excessive for Australian customers.
Tesla Production ramps up high in June
After numerous weeks of
minimal production in March and April at Tesla’s Shanghai factory, things are starting to get back on track. Local reports have suggested that the closed-loop production system in the factory is now opened with daily production levels exceeding 2600 cars a day.
June daily production levels are predicted to be closer to 2750 cars which is great news for thousands of Australian customers who missed out on deliveries this quarter.
It’s worth noting that June production will mainly cover the local market in China.
July and August will cover export production for markets like Australia, Europe and other parts of Asia.
The internal sources at Tesla in Shanghai have noted on local social media that they expect production in June 2022 to be around 70,000 cars for the month.
This is a huge jump from May when just over 33,000 cars were produced.
Impact on local deliveries
This ramp up of production is great news for Australian EV customers as July production would be at similar levels to June.
Next month’s production at Tesla GigaShanghai will start to cover Australian right-hand drive orders along with UK, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand too. This would mean a record quarter of deliveries for Tesla to Australia of both Model 3 and Model Y.
Delivery data from the coming months will reveal the total number and would contribute significantly to the EV uptake in Australia, making 2022 the best year for EV adoption so far.
Labor discount plan to bring down cost of electric cars to take effect on July 1
Some electric vehicle models should become cheaper from July 1, with the Albanese government confirming it will honour a promise to provide exemptions from certain federal taxes from the start of that month.
The Driven has confirmed that the Albanese government intends to fulfil its promised “Electric Vehicle Discount” policy, which will provide exemptions to certain import tariffs and fringe benefits taxes, with effect from 1 July 2022.
The import tariff levies a 5 per cent tax on cars brought to Australia from overseas manufacturers, adding thousands to the cost of a new vehicle.
The import tariff exemption won’t benefit all electric vehicle models,
as car imports from several countries are already exempt under free-trade agreements, but it should help cut the cost of vehicles imported from Japan, South Korea and most of Europe.
This would see the import tariff lifted on vehicles like the Nissan Leaf, the Mercedes EQA, the Hyundai Kona EV, and the Mini Cooper SE.
The fringe benefits tax applies to vehicles provided by employers for their employees’ personal use and attracts a 47 per cent tax rate on the financial benefit of the arrangement.
Labor said that the fringe benefits tax exemption could cut the effective cost of electric vehicles by as much as $12,000 – and should have flow-on benefits for the second-hand EV market.
Both exemptions will apply to electric vehicles with a sale price below the luxury car tax threshold for fuel-efficient vehicles, which sat at $77,565 in 2020-21.
Labor said the threshold would help reduce the cost of cheaper electric vehicle models and encourage manufacturers to bring more lower-cost EVs to The Australian market.
Before the election, Labor had promised that the measures would take effect from July 1, 2022 – to be reviewed after three years.
This would see the discount apply to new EV purchases before the new federal parliament convenes for the first time – but the passage of legislation with retrospective effect – which is often the case with tax measures – will allow the federal government to avoid any delay in its effective implementation.
A similar arrangement was
followed by the NSW Government when it introduced its $3,000 rebate for the purchase of new electric vehicles and a waiver of stamp duty fees, with legislation being passed by the state parliament after the incentives took effect.
The federal ‘electric vehicle discount’ policy would likely be included in a package of measures in the Albanese government’s first federal budget, scheduled to be handed down in late October.
The Driven is Australia’s most-read electric vehicle news site, covering the latest EV stories both in Australia and overseas.
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