Tesla Cuts Model 3 Prices in China

Tesla has slashed prices on its Model 3 electric car in China.

According to the California-based electric carmaker's Chinese website, prices of certain Model 3 cars were cut by up to 7.6 percent. The starting price for a Model 3 in China now is CNY 499,000 ($72,000 or roughly Rs. 50 lakhs).

It was the third time in the last two months that Tesla has adjusted its prices in China. In November, the company cut the prices of its Model X and Model S cars by 12 to 26 percent.

Tesla at the time said it was "absorbing a significant part of the tariff to help make cars more affordable for customers in China".

Earlier this month Tesla cut prices on its Model S and Model X after China's finance ministry said it would suspend additional tariffs on US-made vehicles and auto parts for three months from January, lowering the cost of importing US-produced Tesla cars into China for sale.

Also earlier this month, Tesla Motors said it will begin European deliveries of its long-awaited mass-market Model 3 electric car from February.

A spokesperson told AFP the first to take delivery would be customers who had reserved their Model 3 starting March 2016 if they confirm their order by January 1.

The spokesperson said customers would be invited to confirm over the coming weeks, starting Wednesday.

Tesla's mid-size, four-door all-electric family car was first unveiled in its US home base in July last year.

Controversial founder Elon Musk in October described the Model 3 as "the best-selling car in the US in terms of revenue and the 5th best-selling car in terms of volume."

Written with agency inputs