Tesla expects to start delivering the Long Range Battery version of its Model 3 in Europe next month after getting the green light from the Netherlands Vehicles Authority’s (RDW).
With RDW approval the electric carmaker can sell its vehicles across Europe without the need for approval from individual EU members.
The RDW approval comes at an important time for Tesla as rival automakers plan on ramping up spending on electric vehicles and batteries to nearly $300 billion in the coming years.
Europe is an especially important market for Tesla’s Model 3 given that the midsized premium sedan market in Europe is more than twice as big as the same segment in the US.
The Model 3 is Tesla’s first car targeted for the mass market and the first vehicle to give the carmaker an opportunity to take a big chunk of the premium car market currently dominated by Germany’s BMW AG, Mercedes-Benz and Audi.
Thousands of Model 3 vehicles are currently on a ship to Europe.
According to a report by Electrek, a cargo ship transporting Model 3 vehicles is expected to arrive at the port of Zeebrugge, Belgium within the next 2 weeks.
Now International Car Operators (ICO), a major port handling company in Zeebrugge, says that it expects to receive 3,000 Model 3 units per weeks starting next month.
Lay-offs
Tesla recently laid off seven percent of its full-time employees to cut-costs as it plans to boost production of lower-priced versions of the Model 3.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a letter to employees that the firm faces a “very difficult” road ahead in its goal of making electric cars more affordable for the mass market.
“Tesla will need to make these [job] cuts while increasing the Model 3 production rate and making many manufacturing engineering improvements in the coming months. Higher volume and manufacturing design improvements are crucial for Tesla to achieve the economies of scale required to manufacture the standard range (220 mile), standard interior Model 3 at $35k and still be a viable company. There isn’t any other way,” Musk said.
