Tesla will announce some details for its China-made Model 3 on Friday, and it is considering pricing its flagship electric vehicle at between US$43,400 (300,000 Chinese yuan) and US$50,700 (350,000 yuan) before subsidies, people familiar with the plans told Bloomberg on Tuesday.
The U.S. electric vehicle (EV) maker has yet to finalize the exact final price of the Model 3 that will be made in China, according to one of Bloomberg's sources.
Tesla said in a Chinese social media post that an announcement regarding its China-made Model 3 will be made this Friday, May 31, and invited people to guess the price of the locally made Model 3.
Tesla already sells Model 3 on the Chinese market, at prices starting at US$54,600 (377,000 yuan), its website shows. Currently all Tesla cars sold in China are made in the United States and then shipped to China, which adds logistics costs, import tariffs, and the risk of additional tariffs if the trade war further escalates. The imported Tesla vehicles are not eligible for subsidies either.
Tesla has started the construction of a production facility in the world's top EV market in order to be able to compete on a level playing field with a growing number of local EV manufacturers. As a U.S.-made vehicle, Tesla's cars in China have been subject to steep tariffs, and sales have suffered from the U.S.-China trade war.
In January this year, Elon Musk joined the mayor of Shanghai for the groundbreaking ceremony of Tesla's first factory outside the U.S. and in the world's largest electric vehicle (EV) market, China.
Tesla aims to finish the initial construction of the Shanghai Gigafactory this summer, begin production of Model 3 by the end of this year, and reach high volume production next year, Musk wrote on Twitter on the day of the event.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More