Tesla starts Model 3 deliveries in Europe, with some delays

Tesla has now officially started deliveries in Europe today – though only in low volume as they ran into some issues during their first day.

As we reported earlier this week, the first massive shipment of Tesla Model 3 vehicles arrived at the Zeebrugge port in Belgium.

Many Model 3 buyers were surprised to be quickly invited to take delivery of their vehicles in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Normally, it takes a while for the vehicles to be unloaded and prepared for delivery, but Tesla contacted buyers earlier today to tell them that they could pick up their cars tonight.

A few of them reached out to Electrek to say that they were turned back once arriving at Tesla’s Tilburg factory.

The automaker confirmed to Electrek that they started Model 3 deliveries today, but they couldn’t actually deliver as many vehicles as they originally planned and some buyers have to wait for another day.

CEO Elon Musk confirmed that they ran into some issues at the port:

Sorry, many unexpected challenges with cars coming through Zeebrugge first time. Cars will start moving out in volume tomorrow.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2019

We are told that Tesla offered dinner to some of the buyers who made the trip to Tilburg but couldn’t get their car.

Tesla is nonetheless going to be able to do some deliveries today – the first official Model 3 customer deliveries in Europe.

Some of those people have been reservation holders for almost 3 years.

More Model 3 vehicles are currently on their way to Europe and the next shipment is expected to hit the port of Zeebrugge in the next few days.

Tesla is expected to ramp up to 3,000 Model 3 vehicles per week going through the port of Zeebrugge for the next few months.

As we previously reported, Tesla received almost 14,000 Model 3 orders in Europe as of last month. That’s only from reservation holders and the number is expected to grow since Tesla has now opened Model 3 orders to the public in Europe and China.

Tesla also started Model 3 test drives for reservation holders in Europe, which is expected to result in more orders.

The automaker has been building out a test drive and display fleet for the introduction of the electric vehicle in the new market.

We are going to monitor the Model 3 rollout in Europe. If you have any insight or experience with taking delivery of Model 3 in Europe, please don’t hesitate to reach out.