Tesla To Start Model 3 Deliveries To Europe In February

Tesla expects to begin deliveries of its Model 3 to Europe in February, after having received permission to sell the model in the Netherlands.

The Dutch vehicle authority RDW has added Model 3 to the type of vehicles it has authorized for sale, with which Tesla cleared the final hurdle to start delivering the model to the European market, Bloomberg reports.

Just like with U.S. sales of Model 3, Tesla will start delivering in Europe the Long Range Battery version of the midsize sedan.

Model 3 is key to Tesla’s vehicle offering as it aims to make its electric cars affordable to more people. 

Model 3 will also help Tesla compete on the premium car market in Europe which is being dominated by German brands BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz.    

Deliveries of Model 3 outside the United States will be a crucial development for Tesla, whose chief executive Elon Musk has said that he wasn’t worried about Model 3 setbacks because of the drop in U.S. tax credit, as he expected deliveries to Europe and China to take off.

In its Q3 Update letter to shareholders, Tesla said in October that “The mid-sized premium sedan market in Europe is more than twice as big as the same segment in the US. This is why we are excited to bring Model 3 to Europe early next year.”

Related: A Logical Move From An Inconsistent Tesla

Model 3 became the best-selling premium vehicle of 2018 in the United States, Musk said in an email to employees last week, in which he stressed the need for Tesla to start delivering profitably lower-priced variants of the Model 3.

That’s why Musk announced that Tesla would slash full-time jobs by around 7 percent and retain only the most critical temps and contractors.

“[S]tarting around May, we will need to deliver at least the mid-range Model 3 variant in all markets, as we need to reach more customers who can afford our vehicles. Moreover, we need to continue making progress towards lower priced variants of Model 3,” Musk wrote in the email.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

• U.S. Oil Outlook Slammed By Lower Prices
  
• Oil May Never Return To The Triple-Digits
  
• Offshore Spending To Overtake Shale In 2019