According to a tweet by Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk, South Africa could be seeing its first Model 3 by the end of 2019. The tweet takes us back a few years to 2016, when Musk said that the Model 3 would be heading to South Africa.
For those of you who are unaware, South Africa is where Musk was born and lived until the age of 17, when he moved to Canada and subsequently the United States for his higher education.
When it does come to South Africa, the car will have a base price of ZAR 500,000, or about USD 34,975.00 (today’s exchange rate).
It might be a coincidence that the price is almost exactly what Musk originally priced the Model 3 at for the U.S., but the final price tag in South Africa will have import duties and other costs amounting to more than 25% of the quoted price.
It’s not clear at this point whether Tesla will make the whole range of Model 3 variants available in the South African market, but he has confirmed that a showroom would be set up by the end of 2019.
Tesla is already gearing up for its Europe expansion for the Model 3, and other markets like China and Australia are already in Tesla’s sights. South Africa could get bumped up because of sentimental reasons, but an end-of-year launch looks reasonable.
The company is now nearing the end of another crucial quarter where it has to post a profit. Q3 turned out to be a winner, but that momentum must be sustained on the books for the stock to climb even further from its current $366 level.
Tesla will need to do
Tesla is yet to hit its peak capacity in the United States, but that time could come as early as the first half of 2019. And when it comes, Tesla must be prepared to aggressively ramp up its facilities domestically and overseas.
