Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to begin marketing and selling the Model S in China, but there are a lot of costs associated with exporting vehicles across the ocean.
That’s why he plans to work with a Chinese manufacturer to begin building the electric cars there, instead. That will let Tesla drop the price of the Model 3 by a whopping 30%, although the vehicles will also be 20% in size than the Model S. In the meantime, the country’s government has also pledged to build an infrastructure that could charge up to five million electric vehicles every single day.
At China’s Tsinghua University, Musk made the announcement that he would like to have the Model 3 on the Chinese market by 2017, as reported by Reuters and Teslerati. The CEO did not mention who that manufacturing partner would be but explained that he made the decision to cut both costs and prices. Production in China will save Tesla the high import tax on goods shipped from the United States to China, and it will also make the registration process for Tesla owners in China a much simpler process.
Musk did not say exactly how much the Model 3 would cost, but he promised that it would be substantially cheaper. The vehicles will also be 20% smaller than the Model S, making them even more convenient for city driving through congested traffic.
Chinese consumers bought around 3,000 Model Ss during the month of September, while 18,000 vehicles were sold nationwide in that same time.
AutoBlog’s Danny King also reminds readers that Tesla will start using its Nevada Gigafactory to make batteries sometime next year and that the $5 billion plant will be running at maximum in just three years.
Tesla has a lot of work to do, but boosting sales in China and saving money at the same time will hopefully allow the electric car company to achieve its lofty goals.
