Tesla buyers won’t be all white now. The company has reacted to the new Expensive Car Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) for electric cars by offering Stealth Grey and Solid Black as the ‘free’ base paint colours for the Model 3 Rear-Wheel Drive, This keeps the price at £39,990, just under the £40,000 level which invokes the tax. 

This will ensure that owners can still purchase Model 3 Rear Wheel Drive without qualifying for the VED. 

Stealth Grey is now the only no-cost option on other Model 3s too, while the previously free Pearl White is now a £1,300 option. Red and silver are even more, at £2,000. 

Additionally, Model Y will also replace the standard ‘free’ Pearl White Paint Colour with Stealth Grey, while making the white a £1,300 option. Tesla says this change is expected to encourage a better mix of colour choices in the UK and support stronger residual values – the proliferation of white examples on the used market made them harder to sell and dragged down the average prices. The new Model Y is also now available in Deep Blue Metallic as a £1,300 option.

The first deliveries of the new Model Y will start in May. 

White is now a £1,300 option on both Model 3 and the Y.