After keeping its promise of delivering the first set of its China-made Model 3 sedans on December 30, Tesla on Thursday said that it will start deliveries to the public from January 7. The electric carmaker has been trying to ramp up deliveries in a bid to keep its earlier-made promise of delivering Model 3 vehicles to public before of the Chinese New Year.
Tesla is fast trying to capture the electric car market in China and has been delivering things ahead of its deadline in China. The deliveries of the China-made Model 3 come within a year of Tesla breaking ground for its Shanghai Gigafactory.
Tesla ramps up deliveries in China
Tesla is leaving no stone unturned to impress buyers as well as the China government. Last week, it delivered 15 Made-in-China Model 3 cars to its employees and today it announced that it will start deliveries of the vehicle to public from January 7. The news was confirmed by a representative of the company to Reuters in Shanghai on Thursday.
Gigafactory 3 holds immense importance for Tesla given that China is the biggest market for electric cars. The decision to ramp up deliveries is, understandably, in a bid to capture this market. At the same time the Gigafactory was opened with the aim of minimizing the impact of the US-China trade war that has been eating into the profits of US carmakers.
China in support of Tesla
China has so far been quite supportive. Model 3 is priced $50,000 before subsidies. It is likely that the price of the vehicle will substantially go down after subsidies. Last month China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had included Model 3 in a list of energy-saving vehicles that will be exempted from purchase tax.
Elon Musk too has been making efforts to impress the China government and so far has been successful. The company in November had said that it plans to start deliveries of its made-in-China Model 3 cars to public before the Chinese New Year, which is on January 25. Needless to say, the company has kept its promise.
Tesla broke ground in China only in January last year. It started rolling out its China-made Model 3 cars in October. The first deliveries of the vehicle were made less than a year after the construction of Gigafactory 3. This is also a new record for carmakers across the globe with operations in China.
