Starting at $35,000, the Tesla Model 3 will be one of the best Electric Vehicles in this price range. Although it hasn’t officially been released yet, Chinese car startups are already thinking about how their upcoming EVs will compete against the Model 3 in their native country.
The founders and CEOs of Future Mobility, WM Motor, and Singulato have talked with Reuters and explained their strategy for taking on Tesla. The goal is to produce more premium EVs, which will also be cheaper when compared to the Model 3. The companies will be able to keep the price down because the vehicles will be manufactured in China.
All three startups plan on announcing quite a few electric vehicles in the future, with the first models being released in the second half of 2018. Prices will start at 300,000 yuan or less, which is around $43,500. This is actually less than the expected starting price of the Model 3 in China, as customers will have to pay 25 percent more for the vehicle because of import fees.
In addition to Tesla, Ford also wants to sell its upcoming EVs in China. It has already announced its plans to produce and sell hybrid or fully electric versions of all its models in the country by 2025 with its domestic joint venture partner, Chongqing Changan Automobile.
However, the company is taking it one step at a time and has not yet decided how many vehicles it will produce and sell on a yearly basis. This will depend on many factors including government subsidies, regulatory policies, and others. Trevor Worthington, Ford’s vice president of product development in Asia Pacific, has said that the company has a team of people who sit down and talk to government officials each week regarding these topics.
Worthington added that he’s quite confident that the Chinese government won’t harm the industry with its regulations, just because companies like Ford and others in the same sector do provide employment for a lot of people.
Source; Charged
