Tesla Adds Tow Hitch To Model 3 In Europe
Last night, Tesla added a tow hitch option for European customers. The capacity of the hitch is only 910 kilograms (about 2000 pounds), but it will be useful both for putting small bike and ski carriers onto the cars and for hauling small trailers.
The cost varies slightly by market, but it is about $1,260. The tow hitch is available on the Standard Range (rear-wheel drive) and the Long Range (all-wheel drive) trims, but not the Performance model.
I’ve heard from several of my European friends that this is a much bigger deal than you might think. You see, in the US, many people either have a pickup truck or have a friend with a pickup when they need to buy some furniture or haul some dirt. In Europe, with gas prices much higher, it doesn’t really make sense to drive around a pickup that gets half the mileage of a sedan — just for the 3 times a year you need to haul something. You just buy a sedan with a tow hitch and rent (or buy) a trailer for those 3 times a year you need it. I’ve heard IKEA even has trailers to rent at its European stores, since most cars can’t hold much of the furniture you buy at IKEA.
This is another of the demand levers that Tesla has been holding off on. It could mean that orders softened a bit in Europe, so Tesla chose to pull another lever. On the other hand, they may have just been planning to release it because it is relatively easy to do and so many customers are demanding it (but it wasn’t quite ready at the time of the Model 3’s launch in Europe).
Since you can’t add a tow hitch after the sale, many customers would be upset if Tesla added the option only after all of them had purchased their cars.
The next question is, when will it be available in markets outside of Europe? I expect it shouldn’t be long before it will be offered worldwide.
Overall, this is just the next shoe to drop in Tesla’s plan to cover the automotive market with just a few vehicles.
If you want to take advantage of my Tesla referral link to get 5,000 miles (hurry, 5,000 miles goes back to 1,000 miles after May 28) of free Supercharging on a Tesla Model S, Model X, or Model 3, here’s the link: https://ts.la/paul92237 (if someone else helped you, please use their code instead of mine).
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