Tesla opens Model 3 orders to the public in Europe and China

After opening Model 3 orders to reservation holders in Europe and China, Tesla is now opening its online design studio to the entire public in order to get more orders ahead of the start of deliveries in those markets.

Last month, Tesla started opening Model 3 orders to reservation holders in several European markets and gradually expanded.

Only people who had previously placed a $1,000 deposit were able to order the vehicle.

It means that reservation holders were given a 1-month lead over the rest of the public to order the Model 3 – or more specifically the two versions of the Model 3 that Tesla made available in those markets: Model 3 Performance and Model 3 Long-Range with Dual Motor AWD.

Earlier today, Tesla announced that now anyone can now use its online configurator to order the Model 3 in left-hand drive European markets:

Model 3 configurator is now open to left-hand drive countries in Europe. Design your Model 3

— Tesla (@Tesla) January 4, 2019

Specifically, Tesla says that the Model 3 design studio is now open in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The automaker also opened orders to the public in China.

As we reported earlier this week, Tesla started taking steps to switch Model 3 production to the European version and the first Chinese Model 3 was spotted.

Tesla is expected to focus Model 3 production for those markets in the coming months.

The first deliveries are planned for next month. New orders are now set for March deliveries.

Electrek’s Take

It’s great that more people are now able to order the Model 3, but I think it also shows that Tesla’s reservation process doesn’t really matter much in Europe due to how the company ramps up production.

The people who placed a $1,000 deposit years ago will probably get their cars around the same time or only a few weeks apart from someone who is ordering right now without ever having placed a deposit.

That’s simply because Tesla is expanding Model 3 to Europe over a year after starting production and with a much higher production rate than when it launched the vehicle in the US.

If I was based in Europe, it would certainly make me reconsider giving Tesla $1,000 for the next product to have a reservation process.

At least until the automaker gets some European manufacturing capacity, which could change the timing of the European expansions of new products.