Tesla owners in China without a powered trunk can now get the official retrofit for less money. While the price has been lowered in China, there is still no sign of the official retrofit coming to North America.
When Tesla first launched the Model 3 in 2017, it came with a manual trunk. That changed however with the Model 3 refresh in 2021, which brought about a number of changes to the electric sedan, including a powered trunk. Instead of having to manually open the trunk, you could now open and close it from the car’s display, or through the mobile app.
Even before Tesla introduced the powered trunk, owners of older Model 3s could purchase an aftermarket kit that gave you the same thing, but without the official software support.
That changed just over a year later when Tesla China introduced an official powered trunk retrofit package. It was even offered at the reasonable price of ¥3,980 ($743 CAD/$6546 USD). This week Tesla China has lowered that price by ¥1,000 to ¥2,980 ($556 CAD/$408 USD). (via @Tslachan)
Despite its popularity in China, and the requests from owners in Canada and the US over the nearly two years since it launched, Tesla has yet to bring this service to North America. When it was first launched, Tesla China released a video showing some parts of the process (which you can watch below), and as expected it is relatively straightforward.
There is no doubt that if Tesla were to offer this in Canada and the US, it would be extremely popular among owners of pre-refresh Model 3s. Not only do you get the convenience of the powered trunk, but you would also get an official warranty and an update to your software.
Would you purchase this retrofit if Tesla offered it in North America? Let us know in the comments below.
