Tesla has inexplicably decided to stop taking orders for the Model S and Model X orders in several of right-hand drive markets.
The refreshed Model S and Model X vehicles are just starting to reach markets far from North America and yet, Tesla appears to have decided to stop taking orders in many of them.
Over the last few days, Tesla has shut down the online configurator for the Model S and Model X in Australia, Thailand, Singapore and New Zealand.
The automaker has not explained why.
These markets have in common that they are all right-hand-drive markets and in Asia-Pacific, but it’s not clear why they would be affected.
Tesla has keep orders opened in the UK, but it still only displays US specs for the two flagship vehicles.
We recently reported that Tesla is sitting on an abnormally high number of Model X vehicles in inventory in the US. However, it wouldn’t have an impact on these markets since these are left-hand-drive Model X vehicles.
Electrek’s Take
I don’t know for a fact why Tesla is stopping orders in those markets, but I might have an idea.
Tesla has dropped prices in Model S and Model X vehicles significantly in the US and other markets since the beginning of the year.
By shutting down the online configurations in those markets, Tesla is removing pricing.
With long transit times for those models in these Asia-Pacific markets, it could help deliver the vehicles already on order with higher prices that came before the significant price drops in the US.