Tesla is trying to ‘simplify product complexity’, just one interior option in some markets, says Elon Musk

Tesla’s launch of the Model 3 right-hand drive in new markets last week introduced new option limitations and now Elon Musk says that it is to “simplify product complexity”.

Last Friday, Tesla launched Model 3 in Australia and all other right-hand drive markets.

We noted that interestingly, Tesla only opened orders for two versions of the Model 3: Model 3 Standard Range Plus and Model 3 Performance.

While Tesla always offered more limited options when launching Model 3 in new markets, those are even more limited options than usual.

Furthermore, Tesla also removed one of the only two interior options for Model 3 in those markets.

Here are the Model 3 black and white interior options side-by-side:

CEO Elon Musk commented on the removal of the white interior (via Twitter):

“We’re trying to simplify product complexity, so only offering white (technically black & white) interior in high volume markets.”

The white interior was first introduced as a vegan leather interior option in the Model X back in 2016 and it has quickly become a popular option across Tesla’s entire lineup.

A quick search of Tesla’s online design studio shows that the white interior is only available on the Model 3 in Tesla’s left-hand drive markets.

Electrek’s Take

I don’t think that what Elon is saying is correct.

If Tesla only plans to offer white interior in higher volume markets, it would make sense for it to be available in the UK, but it’s not in the UK design studio anymore.

Meanwhile, it’s still available in much smaller markets like Luxembourg and Italia.

This leads me to believe that the volume has nothing to do with it and Tesla simply doesn’t want to make white interior Model 3’s in right-hand drive markets right now.

Unless I’m missing something, I think that’s a more accurate description – though I’m not sure what it has to do with product complexity since they are already doing the interior for the left-hand drive.

Let us know what you think in the comment section below.