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Tesla made its one millionth electric car, but SA is still waiting for its first

We cover most news about Tesla on our site. Not only because the company is at the forefront of electric vehicles, but also as its founder Elon Musk is homegrown and a little out there when it comes social media.

We’ve also been patiently waiting for Tesla vehicles to land on our shores for some time, but to date have had no such luck. Which is why the recent confirmation that the one millionth Tesla to roll off of the factory floor, is bittersweet news.

Ever since the company ramped up its production plans with its Gigafactory facility in Nevada, it has suffered several manufacturing hurdles and setbacks, which makes the announcement all the more impressive.

Musk took to Twitter, as he always does, to congratulate his team on the accomplishment, along with sharing some pictures of the red Tesla Model Y that earned the auspicious honour.

With the company founded in 2003, it has taken it less than 20 years to reach this milestone, and things only look to be on the rise for the firm, which recently debuted the insane looking Cybertruck for its lineup of electric offerings.

Still none of these EVs have ever landed in SA, which is something that Musk has spoken about on a number of occasions on Twitter. He first spoke about local rollout plans while the Model 3 was nearing completion, but nothing came of that.

More recently he replied to a question on Twitter by noting that a dealership could be expected in South Africa by the end of 2019. Well we’re in 2020 and no further word on that front. Musk has also pointed to the high import duties as a hurdle that bringing Tesla EVs into the country would pose.

Whether we’ll ever get Tesla EVs driving on SA’s roads remains to be seen, but if the technology is to be taken seriously locally and receive the necessary charging station infrastructure it requires, bringing a brand of that stature to SA would certainly help.

Perhaps Musk could even spin up a Gigafactory locally too, which would no doubt assist in job creation? But that is wishful thinking at the moment.

For now we just hope Musk has not given up on bringing Tesla to SA.

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