Auto industry put pedal to metal

Tesla opens Beijing showroom, takes orders

Inside the Tesla showroom [Feng Yongbin / China Daily]

US electric carmaker Tesla opened its first showroom in China in November, taking pre-orders from customers at its Beijing location.

Located in the east of Beijing, the showroom now displays two Tesla Model S four-door sports cars.

Since last August, potential buyers have been able to sign a pre-order contract and put down a 250,000-yuan deposit to add their names to the waiting list. The sales will be launched next month.

Based in Palo Alto, California, the company may open a service center in Beijing to help support new showrooms planned in Shanghai, Shenzhen and other cities.

On Jan 22, Tesla announced the Model S would be priced at 734,000 yuan in China, defying previous estimates that it would cost upwards of 1 million yuan.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the company expects sales in China to match its US volume by 2015.

In 2013, Tesla sold 22,300 Model S vehicles around the globe, far more than its initial target of 20,000 units.

The company hoped to double its annual sales in 2014 "with high expectations for the China market".