[HONG KONG] Tesla’s website in China has removed the ‘order now’ option for Model S and Model X electric vehicles (EVs), 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 website was offering an ‘order now’ option for the two models as of the end of March, according to an archived screenshot by Wayback Machine, but that had been removed as at Friday (Apr 11). Existing inventory, such as a white Model S for 759,900 yuan (S$137,856), is still available.
Representatives for Tesla in China didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump is imposing a 125 per cent charge designed to both counter America’s 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 per cent levy put in place earlier this year over China’s role in fentanyl trafficking, taking total tariffs on China to 145 per cent.
China has hit back at the US, raising levies on all US goods to 84 per cent. Beijing also more recently said it will reduce the number of American 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.
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However, the Model S and Model X only make up a fraction of Tesla’s sales in China, at just under 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 show.
Even though that will not 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 per cent decline. One of the largest threats to Tesla in China comes from BYD, which is now by far and away China’s No 1 selling car brand.
Global deliveries, meanwhile, for Tesla have slumped to the lowest level in three years, as Musk faces an international backlash over his involvement in politics. BLOOMBERG
