During the Tesla Model 3's development more than two years ago, Elon Musk tweeted that the company would be looking to debut the electric vehicle in countries outside of the US, which included South Africa.

Unfortunately the Model 3 has not arrived on local roads, but that could be set to change in coming months, with Musk recently mentioning that plans for an international rollout of the Model 3 are beginning to ramp up.   

Model 3 was designed for min engineering & tooling change for RHD. Note left/right symmetry. LHD for Europe & Asia first half of next year. RHD probably middle of next year.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 25, 2018

To that end, the Tesla co-founder has noted that a left-hand drive version of the Model 3 will be reaching parts of Europe and Asia during the first half of 2019, with the minimally retooled right-hand version said to follow by the middle of next year. While unconfirmed at this stage, it could potentially mean that the Model 3 may make its way to South Africa. That said, there is no word from Tesla about the car's rollout in SA or the Middle East and Africa region.

Nevertheless, with Nissan and BMW the only real carmakers dipping their toes in the EV space locally, bringing the likes of Tesla to SA would certainly be a coup for the country, and could hopefully lead to a better infrastructure for electric vehicles, such as charging stations and carbon-free emissions incentives.