Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-02-05
China will be the second largest global market for American electric car maker Tesla, according to the company's CEO and chief product architect Elon Musk.
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| Elon Musk poses with a Tesla in Amsterdam on Jan. 31, 2014. (Photo/CFP) |
China will be the second largest global market for American electric car maker Tesla, according to the company's CEO and chief product architect Elon Musk.
In an
exclusive phone interview with the web portal of Chinese tech giant Tencent,
the 42-year-old billionaire revealed that he will be visiting Beijing, Shanghai
and Hong Kong in March to personally deliver the first batch of Tesla's Model S
electric cars. Model S, which sold 22,000 vehicles worldwide last year, retails
for 734,000 yuan (US$121,000) and requires a 15,000 yuan (US$2,475) deposit for
pre-orders.
Musk, a
naturalized American citizen born in South Africa, did not reveal how many
orders Tesla has received from China but admitted that it will be difficult to
satisfy the demands of the Chinese market due to the company's limited
production capacity. The business magnate and inventor, who also co-founded
online payment system PayPal, added that he believes China will be Tesla's
second largest market behind the United States and cautiously predicted that
the number of orders between the two countries will be roughly equal by 2015.
A
spokesperson for Tesla said that the company hopes China will contribute to
around 30%-35% of global sales this year.
Model S is
manufactured at the Tesla Factory in Fremont, California. According to publicly
available information, Tesla could only manufacture three to four vehicles a
day when it first began production in October 2010. This has substantially
improved to 35,000 units a year in 2013, though this is still regarded as
insufficient to meet demand in China.
Accordingly,
Tesla's long-term plan is to eventually produce vehicles directly in China,
though Musk said that the company is still too young and will only begin
researching this possibility next year. He added, however, that the company
intends to establish sales centers in China's six first-tier cities and set up
mobile maintenance and service centers for mainland customers in other areas
soon.
Musk did
not reveal whether Tesla has plans to introduce Supercharger stations — which
can replenish 50% of a Model S car battery in 20 minutes — to China but did
note that the company will provide free lifetime charging of its vehicles to
all customers. A more specific announcement regarding Supercharger stations
will be made in March, he added. Tesla currently has 65 Supercharger stations
in the US and 14 in Europe.
During the
interview Musk also revealed that his best friend in college is from Shanghai
and that the two studied physics at the University of Pennsylvania and later
attended Stanford together as graduate students.
As for his other major project, SpaceX, a space transport company headquartered in California, Musk said his ultimate goal is to be able to deliver a large amount of goods and people to Mars. The project has already launched a space station and will aim to carry astronauts in the next few years, he said.
As for his other major project, SpaceX, a space transport company headquartered in California, Musk said his ultimate goal is to be able to deliver a large amount of goods and people to Mars. The project has already launched a space station and will aim to carry astronauts in the next few years, he said.
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