Global EditionASIA 中文双语Français
Business
Home / Business / Motoring

Tesla offers cheaper Model 3 car variant in China

Updated: 2019-02-03 08:04
Share
Share - WeChat
A Tesla Model 3 car is displayed during a media preview at the Auto China 2018 motor show in Beijing, April 25, 2018. [Photo/Agencies]

US electric vehicle maker Tesla Inc said it will start taking orders in China on Friday for a lower-priced version of its Model 3 car, as it seeks to accelerate China sales hit by trade friction between Washington and Beijing.

The California-based firm said in a statement that Chinese customers will be allowed to place orders for a long range, rear-wheel-drive Model 3 variant whose price will start at 433,000 yuan ($64,300.56).

Previously, the starting price for a Model 3 in China was 499,000 yuan, for an all-wheel-drive long range version. Tesla said earlier this year that it plans to start delivering Model 3 cars to customers in China in March.

Tesla currently imports all the cars it sells in China but is in the process of building a factory in Shanghai that will manufacture Model 3 cars in the initial phase.

CEO Elon Musk said on a post earnings call on Wednesday that Tesla's Fremont factory is focused almost entirely on building Model 3s for China and Europe.

A driver recharges the battery of his Tesla car at a Tesla Super Charging station in a petrol station on the highway in Sailly-Flibeaucourt, France, January 12, 2019. [Photo/Agencies]

"It's very important to get those cars, especially to China, as soon as possible. We hope the trade negotiations go well , but it's not clear. But we need to get them there while there's sort of a de facto – sort of a truce on the tariff war," Musk said.

Tesla has sent two ships and at least one cargo plane with Model 3 vehicles to China, a logistics source familiar with the matter said.

The company said in October that its China sales have been hammered after Beijing raised tariffs on imports of US autos to 40 percent in July. China has since temporarily suspended the additional 25-percent tariff, reducing it to the 15-percent level.

Tesla has adjusted prices of its US-made cars in China to keep its cars affordable in the country, a move also aimed at helping it fend off competition from a swathe of domestic electric vehicle startups such as Nio Inc, Byton and XPeng Motors.

Tesla said that it wants to start production at its Shanghai plant in the second half this year and is aiming to build 3,000 Model 3 vehicles per week.

Reuters

Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US
CLOSE