Tesla begins accepting China orders

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(Global Times) 08:05, August 23, 2013

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US electric-car maker Tesla Motors has started accepting purchase orders for its Tesla S model from mainland buyers, media reported Thursday.

Kingston Chang, general manager for China at Tesla Motors, said in his Sina Weibo account late Wednesday that the company is accepting bookings from mainland customers for the full-sized electric four-door hatchback sports sedan.

"Many mainland customers hope (Tesla) could start selling the vehicles as soon as possible, but we still need to do a lot of preparation work. Therefore, this time we are only accepting orders, not signing the final contracts," news portal qq.com cited the company as saying.

The company said the booking cost is 250,000 yuan ($40,828), but did not disclose the final sales price or the vehicle configuration in the order agreement, the report said.

The price of Tesla's Model S ranges from $70,000 to $100,000 in the US based on configuration. Considering the tariff of 25 percent for car imports, a 17 percent value-added tax and up to 20 percent consumption tax, the model might cost between 600,000 yuan to 850,000 yuan in the mainland.

The company started accepting orders in Hong Kong in July without disclosing the sales price, qq.com reported.

Tesla needs to go through a lengthy process to sell its products in the mainland which requires foreign carmakers to apply for China Compulsory Certification and go though tests done by the Ministry of Environmental Protection, after registering with the industry and commerce authorities and appointing a general distributor in China.

（Editor：ChenLidan、Gao Yinan）