Tesla Model 3 vehicles get imported in Germany for a fleet of rental cars

We have recently been witnessing an increasing number of Tesla Model 3 vehicles going on the used market in the US and quickly being purchased by resellers in order to be exported to other markets where the vehicle is not available yet.

Now a car rental company in Germany even bought 3 Model 3 vehicles for their fleet – making the new electric vehicle available for rent for the first time in Europe.

Last month, we reported on Tesla Model 3 vehicles starting to show up for sale in Europe on the gray market.

Resellers are buying Model 3 vehicles on the used market in the US and importing them in Europe in order to turn a profit.

In other cases, reservation holders with US addresses have been able to take delivery in the US and then import the vehicle themselves in other countries.

It results in the Model 3 reaching new markets months ahead of its planned launch. We have seen this happened in China and Dubai last week.

Now Autovermietung Arndt in Neuss, Germany announced that they took delivery of the first of 3 Model 3 vehicles purchased in a similar way:

The company already has a Model X P90D and a Model S P100D in their fleet, but they are now adding Model 3 vehicles and making them available for customers to rent. They still haven’t released pricing or made the vehicle available on their website, but they are taking inquiries.

Model 3 is not expected to arrive in Germany until late 2018 or early 2019 and even then, reservation holders could have limited opportunities to test drive the vehicle before ordering – just like in the US.

While it shouldn’t be a problem for local use, owning a Tesla vehicle made for the North American market in a non-American market comes with some issues.

For example, Tesla doesn’t use the same plugs in North America as the one it uses in Europe.

While it’s not a big issue for local use since they can still have level 2 connectors, it can be an issue for DC fast-charging.

They can’t use Tesla’s Supercharger stations and while they could technically use the US Tesla CHAdeMO adapter with local CHAdeMO stations, it reportedly still hasn’t been configured for Model 3.

But in a post on Facebook about taking delivery of the vehicle, Autovermietung Arndt that they actually have an adapter for Supercharging the car in Europe, which is surprising. They didn’t elaborate on it so we remain skeptical, but it’s certainly not impossible.