Two models that kicked off Tesla’s international ambition here, blipped then all but blanked out seem to be gone for good.

TELSA has regressed into becoming a two-car brand insofar as Kiwis are concerned, relating to a media outlet that it is ceasing local sale of the luxury sedan it kicked off with and the quirky sports utility that followed. 

Ability to order the Model S, the make’s first car sold for global production, and the gull-winged Model X (above) sports utility that followed - the $150,000-plus cars that put two of the four letters into Tesla owner Elon Musk’s famous ‘S3XY’ mantra - was withdrawn from Tesla NZ’s website at the end of April.

The brand has advised local orders for new right-hand drive Model S cars cannot be fulfilled. The orders have been cancelled and any money already paid will be refunded.

That leaves just the smaller, much less pricy and more mainstream Model 3 and its crossover spin-off, the Model Y, in circulation.  

Those cars, which source from China, have been accomplishing almost all Tesla’s NZ market business any way.

The S and X were well established designs when they reached NZ, but hit the ground running when releasing officially in 2017 (by then, NZ already had a small population on Model S sedans bought from the brand outlet already established in Australia). The burst of sales activity was limited, however. After then they stumbled and recovered, even though the premium sector in which they reside has become increasingly important.

The challenging retail situation, arrival of other high-end products from established brands and realisation of residuals being nothing special were impacts, but ultimately they also fell into a sales hole has been of Tesla’s own making.

The facelifted Tesla Model S and Model X that were unveiled for the United States in January 2021, ahead of deliveries from the middle of the same year, are still missing in action.

Deliveries of the updated models commenced for left-hand-drive European markets – as well as China – earlier this year, but there doesn’t ever appear to have been a finalised timeline for production of right-hand-drive vehicles for Australasia.

With those models all but sidelined, the Model 3 (below) and Y (above) have been undertaking heavy lifting right from their introductions, respectively in 2019 and 2022.

Both have enjoyed a year in which they were the country’s best-selling electric car. 

The sedan topped in 2021, its first full year of sale, with 3271 units. Model 3 demand dropped to 2781 units last year, when the SUV – very much a sister model with 95 percent parts commonality – took over, with a 4226 sector-dominating uptake. That count was all the more impressive because the car’s release only occurred mid-year.

In each instance, the buy-ins were assured as each have accrued huge waiting lists, with customers simply finally getting cars they had signed up for well before production allocation was released.

What’s apparent is that, with that crowd now fed and watered, the demand has dropped considerably since January. Both cars have also been subject to several price adjustments this year.

For Model S and Model X, the best year of official sale was the first, with 134 and 144 registered.

As soon as the Model 3 came, demand for the bigger fare nosedived. Sixty-seven Model S and 89 Model X in 2019, 40 and 56 respectively in 2020, 51 and six in 2021, 42 and seven last year, when Tesla achieved 7061 NZ-new registrations, it’s best year by far. That’s half the total count of Tesla cars, NZ-new and imported used, in the country.

The Model S and Model X appears to still maintain consumer support in the United States, the only production point.

Meantime, a maker that is no stranger to controversy now appears to have caused an upset in China.

The market regulator there has said Tesla will have to fix software in more than one million vehicles to reduce the chance of accidents.

The action is described as a product recall under Chinese regulations, the regulator said, but it was not immediately clear if drivers might need, or would be eligible, to return vehicles to Tesla for refunds.

The requirement to issue over-the-air software updates to 1.1 million units of its all its products – so, the Model S and Model X as well as the Model 3 and Model Y cars built in China – has come from the State Administration for Market Regulation.

The regulator said the vehicles concerned did not allow drivers to turn off regenerative braking or provide enough warnings when drivers stepped on the accelerator pedal hard, which, combined, could increase the risk of collision.

The update will restore the option of switching off regenerative braking and warn drivers when they step hard on the accelerator pedal, it added.

Regenerative braking works to save energy from the process of slowing a car, feeding the surplus to batteries to increase its driving range. Tesla had disabled the option to switch off the technique on cars produced after 2020, Reuters news agency has reported.

Some consumers in China welcomed the technology, also known as one-pedal driving, as it enabled them to bring a vehicle to a complete halt without use of the brake pedal.

However, others complained it could confuse drivers and increase the risks of mis-stepping on accelerators.