2023 Tesla Model X Plaid spied in Australia, but is it coming to local showrooms?

A left-hand-drive example of the Tesla Model X Plaid has been spotted in Australia two years after it was unveiled in the US, but there is still no date for the local roll-out of the high-performance electric SUV.

The updated 2023 Tesla Model X electric SUV appears to be a step closer to Australia after a left-hand-drive vehicle on trade plates was photographed testing in Australia, months after a similar example of its Tesla Model S sedan twin was spotted on local roads.

However, more than two years after its US unveiling, there is still no date for when the customer deliveries of the Model S or Model X will recommence.

Images posted on the Tesla Model 3 & Y Facebook page show a black Model X parked at a Tesla Supercharger in Queensland, which a check of the vehicle identification number confirms is a three-motor Plaid model.

Wearing “limited-use” licence plates, it is left-hand drive and fitted with Tesla’s controversial ‘yoke’ half-steering-wheel – which can now be swapped at no additional cost for a traditional round steering wheel, after a negative reaction from some customers.

MORE: 2023 Tesla Model S spied in Australia ahead of launch

Pre-orders for the facelifted Tesla Model X opened when the car was unveiled in the US in January 2021, but price and estimated arrival timing details for Australia were pulled from the Tesla website at the end of 2021.

Deliveries began in the US in October 2021, with much of Europe and China following earlier this year – but right-hand-drive production is yet to commence, leaving the UK, Japan, Australia and New Zealand in the dark with no delivery timing or up-to-date prices.

If past new Tesla model launches are a guide – where Australian arrivals have commenced within six to to 12 months of the left-hand-drive European launch – the updated Model S and Model X could be in local showrooms by the end of this year.

However, this is only an estimate for now – and Tesla is yet to give an update on plans for right-hand-drive Model S and Model X vehicles.

The last price advertised for the Tesla Model X in Australia in late 2021 was $161,900 for the Long Range model, and $174,990 for the tri-motor Plaid – both before on-road costs (stamp duty, registration, third-party insurance) and Luxury Car Tax.

In the meantime, the Model X and its Model S sedan sibling have undergone multiple rounds of price hikes – followed by significant price cuts – overseas in a bid to boost customer demand, alongside some mild updates.

In the US, the Model X Long Range was priced from $US89,990 when orders opened in January 2021, rising to $US119,990 for the Plaid edition.

In the two years since the Long Range and Plaid have hit peaks of $US120,990 and $US138,990 – but after three price cuts in 2023 are now priced from $US97,490 and $US107,490 respectively.

These figures represent the cheapest the Model X Long Range has been since July 2021 – and the lowest-priced, top-of-the-range Model X variant since the old dual-motor Model X Performance was discontinued at $US99,990 at the end of 2020.

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