In a major blow to anyone who's ordered a right-hand-drive (RHD) Tesla Model S or X in the past couple of years, the company has announced it is scrapping them in an effort to ease production costs, according to Autocar. There are only six right-hand drive markets, but the ones most impacted are going to be the UK, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand. The Model 3 and Model Y will continue to be sold in these markets as RHD though.

This news is disappointing for customers of these countries, but makes sense due to the high demand with Elon Musk recently reporting that the company is "currently seeing orders at almost twice the rate of production." The company is anticipating that sales will rise to 1.8 million in 2023 because of this, but it doesn't want any hiccups along the way. Since the Model S and X sell so few in comparison to their siblings, the company believes efforts and funds are best served elsewhere.

Customers in the UK who have already reserved either a Model S or X will now be able to choose out of existing LHD inventory, receive a £2,000 ($2,493) credit towards a RHD Model 3 or Y, or cancel their orders entirely. The company is holding events on May 28th and June 30th to allow British drivers to test out the LHD models and see if they can live with them.

Tesla previously stopped taking orders for the Model S and X in Australia, Singapore, and Thailand, and now it appears they are getting the worse deal. The company has announced that these markets won't be receiving the vehicles at all, with, at least in Australia, the reservation holders being offered an AU $3,000 (US $2,000) credit towards the Model 3 and Y or being offered a full refund.

Over time as the production is stabilized and the company is able to iron out the Model S and X production kinks we imagine the RHD models will return, but that may take a bit as the German Gigafactory that produces European models is still trying to ramp up the Model Y line to meet demand.

The one benefit of this situation is because the LHD models will be available there, the Plaid models will be available in the UK for the first time. Priced at £114,930 ($143,281) for the Model S and £124,780 ($155,561) for the X, we wouldn't be surprised if people are willing to pony up the prices given the vehicles' insane performance. The real question is will they be offered the recently announced $20,000 Model S Plaid Track Package to really make their neighbors jealous.