Tesla has shipped Model Y vehicles to New Zealand, seemingly for winter testing — months after deliveries started in the US.
With the Model 3 program, Tesla sent a few cars to New Zealand in order to perform winter testing during summer months in North America, where the automaker performs most of its tests.
The testing on Model 3 in New Zealand was performed in the summer of 2017 before Tesla started to ramp up production of the new electric sedan.
Model 3 owners in northern regions have experienced some issues with the electric sedan during its first winter.
Now we learn that Tesla is also bringing some Model Y vehicles to the country — likely again for testing.
A Twitter user tracking Tesla shipments from the US first reported the Model Y SUVs arriving in New Zealand:
EXCLUSIVE news on #Tesla #ModelY. 3 Model Y have arrived in Auckland, New Zealand from Tesla on ANL Warrnambool Monday night. Likely there for winter testing as we have seen with other new models. This could be the first sign of Tesla preparing for more Model Y markets. pic.twitter.com/AbpjleA1J8
— Vedaprime (@VedaPrime) July 14, 2020
Tesla hasn’t started right-hand-drive production of the Model Y yet, and therefore, it’s likely that Tesla is using those vehicles for testing.
The testing is happening after Tesla has started production of the Model Y in Fremont and deliveries in North America.
Interestingly, we just reported on comments from Tesla’s former VP of Quality about how Elon Musk didn’t mind testing the Model S after starting production because he believed that any issue that arises from the tests could be fixed later — even if it was through a recall.
To be fair, Tesla has already conducted some winter testing on Model Y in Alaska and in Canada prior to the start of deliveries in the US.
Electrek’s Take
It’s pretty funny that this comes out just after we learn from the VP of Quality about Musk’s approach to testing.
However, Tesla already learned a ton from Model 3 about winter performance that will more likely than not apply to Model Y.
Furthermore, Model Y is likely to perform a lot better in the cold than the Model 3 thanks to its heat pump.
VedaPrime also reported that there were Model S and Model 3 vehicles in the same shipment to New Zealand.
Maybe, and this might be hopeful thinking, but Tesla might have implemented the same technology developed for the Model Y to those vehicles, and now they are testing everything in New Zealand’s winter conditions.
What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
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