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Tesla details plan for increased Model Y pricing stability in Australia
As Chinese automakers increasingly deploy low-priced EVs in the Australian market, one Tesla executive explains one way the company plans to stay competitive.
A Tesla executive managing the Australian and surrounding markets has detailed the company’s plans to move away from rapid pricing changes with the arrival of the new Model Y, especially as electric vehicle (EV) competition from other Chinese automakers arrives in Australia and surrounding markets.
Thom Drew, Tesla’s Country Director for New Zealand and Australia, said in an interview with Chasing Cars on Friday that the recently refreshed Model Y will make it to Australian markets with more consistent pricing. The statement comes after the Model Y remained Australia’s best-selling EV in 2024, and he says that the era of the Tesla price war seems to be winding down as the SUV gets more affordable.
“We are certainly not going to get into price wars,” Drew said. “I know we have famously been known for changing our prices rapidly over the past several years.
“I really think we have gotten to a point with our pricing where it is where it should be. Once we release the general production pricing for Model Y, I think we are at a really good point. Particularly with the refinements on the [upgraded] vehicle, it is exceptional value for money.”
First deliveries of the Launch Edition Model Y refresh are expected in May, and Drew says initial shipments will be large in volume to match significant demand for the EV. The executive also confirmed that the highly-coveted rear-wheel-drive (RWD) model, the Launch Edition of which is currently sold out, will go on sale again as the regular edition in the weeks to come.
At the time of writing, you can still order the Launch Edition configuration of Tesla’s Long Range, all-wheel-drive (AWD) Model Y on its online order configurator.
READ MORE ON TESLA’S NEW MODEL Y: Australia’s top car website gives Tesla Model Y and Model 3 its best EV awards
It’s not clear at this time if Tesla plans to employ similar strategies in markets beyond the Asia-Pacific, though Drew highlights the pricing stability efforts as a necessary measure to remain competitive amongst incoming EVs from Chinese automakers. Between this and optimizing consumer experiences by making great vehicles, the executive explains that the company remains intent on holding onto its number one seller spot.
“We need to make sure we are hyper-focussed on the quality of our products and our competitiveness,” he says. “[We need to] be looking around today and making sure that we have the best ownership experience to keep our brand at the number-one point.”
At this point, Drew also says that the Model Y is the most affordable option in the Australian market, highlighting that keeping the price stable should hold competitors off for the foreseeable future, at the very least. The news also comes as reports say that Tesla may already be looking to launch an even cheaper Model Y in China, which could make the vehicle even more competitive with future iterations.
“At the moment, there is no cheaper model that I am aware of,” Drew adds. “If there was one, absolutely [we would have our hand up].”
The Australian market requires right-hand-drive (RHD) vehicles, meaning that they drive on the left side of the road and are equipped with steering wheels on the right side of the automobile. Tesla’s Gigafactory in Shanghai supplies the markets in Australia, New Zealand and multiple surrounding regions throughout the Asia-Pacific.
Tesla launched the upgraded Model Y in China in January, after months of speculation that the refreshed SUV would soon be launched. The automaker began initial deliveries of the Launch Edition Model Y refresh in China last month, officially transitioning to the sale of the regular edition of the vehicle at the beginning of March.
Australia has received 107k of Tesla’s 1 million exports from Giga Shanghai: report
The Tesla Model Y L is arguably the most hyped trim of the all-electric crossover, other than the Performance configuration that comes with white-knuckle speed and sports car-level handling.
However, it is not all perfect. Tesla owners in China who took delivery of the Model Y L, denoted with an L to highlight its longer wheelbase, are experiencing what they are referring to as “collapsing” of the rear wheels, as suspension issues appear to be an issue with some of the builds.
🚨 Model Y L owners in China report rear suspension sag
• Six-seat long-wheelbase Y. Shanghai. On sale since August 2025
• Owners say the rear tire-to-arch gap shrinks after mileage or a full load. Some cases after about 9,000 km loaded. Others near 30,000 km
• Tesla service… pic.twitter.com/Lr6i5Tbi07— Joe Hansen (@joehansen) September 1, 2026
The gap between the wheel arch and tire has narrowed to the point that “not even a single finger” could fit, according to a report from Car News China. The failures are not tied to a specific mileage, as one owner said that after just 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles), they noticed the suspension issue when their car was fully loaded.
Another one had the issue at 30,000 kilometers (18,640 miles) and noticed that the wheel gap shrank to two fingers, so not as drastic as the person who reported a similar issue at 9,000 km.
Tesla Model Y L is gaining momentum in China’s premium segment
Along with the visual recognition of the issue, others are saying the sagging is causing abnormal wear on the inside of the tires. Extra weight and instant torque already provide additional stress on the tires in electric vehicles during normal operation, so it is no surprise that this is another complaint.
There has been no recall issued by Tesla, and the company has not yet publicly acknowledged the issue.
Some are suggesting that owners use a “finger test” to self-diagnose whether there is an issue with the suspension. There should be four fingers between the tire and the wheel well; anything less than that starts to get dicey.
Tesla is starting to truly tease and hype its groundbreaking Cybercab event, which takes place tomorrow in Austin, Texas. It will be the first time members of the public will be able to ride in a Cybercab, a vehicle without any manual controls, on public roads.
Tesla has been dropping some hype on X over the past several days, but this morning, the excitement has truly started to build up for the event. Although Cybercab has been unveiled before, this is truly Tesla’s announcement that it is ready to start offering autonomous rides for public passengers in its new ride-hailing-geared vehicle for the first time.
The hype has started with a variety of different social media posts that are a true indication that Tesla is preparing for something big. Teasing so much of the potential of Cybercab, including its ability to truly revolutionize how people hail rides for local travel, is what the big idea for the event entails. The time that many Tesla owners, fans, and investors have been waiting for is potentially here:
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 2, 2026
The event has remained slim on details. Even invitees are still awaiting true details about what the event will entail, where they’ll go, and what is in store for the evening. This is pretty typical for an event run by Tesla; they keep things under wraps for the most part until the very last minute.
However, there is no secret about what the real intention of Tesla is for this event: it is going to be a huge reveal party for a vehicle that has no steering wheel and no pedals. It is a truly massive step for the company moving forward.
No steering wheel, no pedals
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) September 2, 2026
Speculation persists as to whether this is going to be an event that simply announces that rides will begin with the Cybercab, or it will be something more substantial. Tesla has said in the past that they plan to sell the Cybercab to the general public in what could become a great way to earn passive income by adding it to a more global fleet of Robotaxi-geared vehicles.
Tomorrow, the show begins in Austin, and the Cybercab goes live at some capacity; we just don’t know exactly how quite yet.
News
SpaceX tells the FCC that Starship Flight 14 is going to orbit
SpaceX filed with the FCC for Starship Flight 14, its first true orbital launch attempt.
SpaceX has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to fly Starlink terminals during Starship’s fourteenth flight test, and the filing lays out a genuine trip to orbit, something the program has never attempted.
Every Starship flight so far, including Flight 13’s successful splashdown in the Indian Ocean on July 24, has flown a suborbital arc that ends with the ship reentering the atmosphere within the same hour it launches. The FCC paperwork describes a mission profile built around an actual orbital insertion instead.
The payload is the other half of the story. Flight 13 carried 20 production Starlink V3 satellites, but because that mission never reached orbit, the satellites reentered along with the ship rather than joining the constellation, something Teslarati covered in detail after SpaceX released footage shot from one of those satellites as it drifted away from Starship in space. Flight 14 is designed to close that gap. If the orbital insertion holds, the roughly 20 V3 satellites onboard would separate into an operational orbit and could eventually go into service, each one rated for about 1 terabit per second of downlink capacity by SpaceX’s own account.
SpaceX announces new Starbase for ‘thousands of Starship launches annually’
Elon Musk first flagged the orbital attempt during SpaceX’s August 4 earnings call, the company’s first as a public entity following its June IPO under the ticker SPCX. He also floated catching the ship with the Starbase tower on the same flight, an idea he walked back on August 20, saying the catch attempt would more likely come “in a few months,” as Teslarati reported at the time. Flight 14 will instead target a splashdown for the ship in the Indian Ocean, the same recovery method used since Flight 12.
Hardware has been catching up to the ambition. Booster 21 completed a full 33-engine static fire on August 28, and Ship 41 finished its own six-engine test the week before. An airspace briefing circulated to pilots on August 20 listed September 15 as the target date, later than the end of August window Musk mentioned on the earnings call, though SpaceX has not confirmed a launch date publicly and Starship schedules routinely slip while hardware and FAA paperwork line up.
The FCC filing itself does not guarantee a launch date. It covers communications authority, and not flight readiness, considering SpaceX still needs Ship 41 fully stacked and cleared by the FAA before Flight 14 can fly. But the filing is a real marker of intent and it puts a specific regulatory process behind what had so far only been Musk’s word on the earnings call.
Tesla Model Y L gets suspension complaints in over odd issue China
Tesla Cybercab event gains steam ahead of massive launch
