Andreas Stephens lines up at the Tesla Store in Sydney days before the official Model 3 reservation opening [Source: ETFM]
Andreas Stephens is determined to be the first person in Australia to reserve a Tesla Model 3. According to Australian website EFTM, Stephens is now the proud owner of a Toyota Corolla. In fact, he doesn’t even have a garage to park his Model 3 in. “I’ve got two years to build one,” he says.
Stephens credits his 19 year old son for putting him up to this. No doubt, his son assumes Dad will let him drive the car when it finally arrives. That won’t be for a while. Stephens knows that current Tesla owners and those that order fully optioned cars will get priority in the order queue but that hasn’t deterred him from his plans to be first in the queue. He figures the car he orders will cost between $65,000 and $70,000 AUD by the time it arrives in Australia. None of that bothers him.
Stephens figures his decision to camp out 48 hours before the 8am local opening time will be a great story to tell his grandchildren, if nothing else. And with the durability people expect from Tesla automobiles, those grandkids may be driving that Model 3 some day.
The Tesla store has already treated him to a test drive in a Model S. The staff are keeping him supplied with hot coffee and words of encouragement. Stephens’ enthusiasm for the Model 3 is why some people think Tesla could book as many as 100,000 reservations in the first 24 hours. For the next 48 hours, Andreas Stephens is praying it doesn’t rain in Sydney.
Photo credit: EFTM
