Tesla Motors taking orders from Singapore for its new Model 3

SINGAPORE — Motorists in Singapore can now place orders for the Tesla Model 3, an all-electric car being produced by US company Tesla Motors, the company’s CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Friday morning (April 1, Singapore time).

The Model 3 was unveiled on Thursday at the company’s design studio in Hawthorne, California. Mr Musk said he was “fairly confident” that deliveries worldwide would begin by the end of next year, starting with North America.

The US pricing for the Model 3 will start from US$35,000 (S$47,213). It is not yet known what the final cost would be for the Singapore market after taking into account Certificate of Entitlement prices and other charges or rebates.

Still, interested buyers can now go to the Tesla website to place an order. A US$1,000 deposit is required. This will be the first time that Tesla is taking orders from Singapore for its cars. Other new markets for Tesla include Brazil, India and South Africa. Singapore is the only country in South-east Asia that Tesla will be shipping the Model 3 to.

Within two hours of the car’s launch, at least 134,000 orders from around the world have been placed, according to a Bloomberg report.

The Tesla Model 3 is the linchpin of Tesla’s plan to reach beyond affluent buyers and make electric vehicles a significant part of the auto market. Much of the car’s platform is new, including the battery architecture and motor technology. The car is said to be able to travel up to 346km on a single charge.

Many of the executives who worked on the Model 3, including Chief Technology Officer JB Straubel and chief designer Franz von Holzhausen, have been part of the company’s leadership team for years.

Last month, the company made headlines in Singapore after an IT professional detailed his difficulty in importing a second-hand Tesla Model S into Singapore.

In an interview with Stuff Singapore, Mr Joe Nguyen said he had spent months trying to get a licence for his vehicle to be driven on local roads. Additionally, he was not given the Carbon Emissions-based Vehicle Scheme (CEVS) rebate of S$15,000 but was charged S$15,000 tax for having a non-fuel-efficient car.

The social media storm that erupted after the story was published led to Mr Musk tweeting that he had spoken to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong about the case. In turn, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office said various agencies were looking into the issue.

In a statement on March 10, the LTA said Mr Nguyen’s second-hand car had been found to have a high electrical consumption of 444 Wh/km, above the energy consumption rating of 181 Wh/km when it had left the Tesla factory on June 28, 2014. The LTA added that had a brand new Model S been tested, it would have fallen within the “CEVS A1 band”, which meant it would enjoy a S$30,000 rebate.

Using an emissions factor commonly applied to electric and plug-in electric hybrid cars, the LTA said Mr Nguyen’s car also showed a carbon emissions level that placed it in the CEVS C3 band — racking up a surcharge of S$15,000.

When contacted by TODAY previously, Mr Nguyen, 44, maintained that he welcomed a re-test of his car under “proper supervision”.

Tesla Motors had an office in Singapore in 2011 but pulled out just six months later. At the time, the electric car maker said its business model was not viable in Singapore due to the lack of green technology tax break and subsidies. WITH AGENCIES