Tesla Inc’s Web site in China has removed the ‘order now’ option for Model S and Model X electric vehicles (EV), which are both imported, just days after China retaliated against US President Donald Trump’s tariffs by raising levies of its own.
Tesla’s China Web site was offering an “order now” option for the two models as of the end of last month, an archived screen shot by Wayback Machine showed, but that had been removed as of yesterday. Existing inventory, such as a white Model S for 759,900 yuan (US$103,890), is still available.
Representatives for Tesla in China did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Photo: AFP
Trump is imposing a 125 percent charge designed to counter the US’ trade deficit with China and punish Beijing for retaliating against US import taxes.
The number, published in a White House memo on Thursday, comes in addition to a 20 percent levy put in place earlier this year over China’s role in fentanyl trafficking, taking total tariffs on China to 145 percent.
China has hit back at the US, raising levies on all US goods to 84 percent.
Beijing has also said it would reduce the number of US films allowed to enter the country.
Tesla’s Shanghai factory only makes Model 3 and Model Y cars and most of them are either sold in China or exported to other parts of Asia. Anyone wanting to buy a Model S or Model X in China needs to get them imported.
However, the Model S and Model X only make a fraction of Tesla’s sales in China, at just less than 2,000 vehicles last year compared to about 661,820 for both the Model 3 and Model Y, data from the China Automotive Technology and Research Center showed.
Even though that would mean a huge hit to Tesla’s sales in the world’s biggest automobile market, Elon Musk’s EV maker has not been going well in China regardless.
Volumes from Tesla’s plant on the outskirts of Shanghai have been falling for six straight months, with first-quarter deliveries seeing a 22 percent decline. One of the largest threats to Tesla in China comes from BYD Co (比亞迪), which is now by far and away China’s No. 1 selling car brand.
Meanwhile, global deliveries for Tesla have slumped to the lowest level in three years, as Musk faces an international backlash over his involvement in politics.
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