High Time For Tesla’s Chinese Rivals To Deliver

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Tesla has offered a lot in the electric car making space, making it difficult forautomakers to compete with it. But the EV segment in China is appearing to turn into a battle between entrepreneurs, with many eco-inexperienced companies promising to make large premium electric vehicles to compete with or overthrow Tesla’s offerings in the sector. So far, they have not been able to deliver much, according to China Daily.

Time for Chinese rivals to deliver

The managements of these car companies have made a range of confident and grand comments promising to overtake the U.S. firm soon. As expected, first-time customers are quite excited by these vows, but some understand that making a car that supersedes Tesla’s cars could not be that easy and simple even though they have advantages of staff and capital, the report says.

An excellent example of how some automakers are trying to rewrite the generally-accepted rulebook of the auto industry is Youxia Motors. This company was established in 2014, and last year, it claimed that its 40-member team had developed a vehicle in less than 500 days with a small budget of less than 20 million yuan ($3.02 million). According to the automaker, this car will be serious competition for Tesla. One might find it interesting that Youxia’s design bears a striking resemblance to that of the Model S. The automaker claimed earlier this month that its new car would hit the market next year, the report says.

LeEco surpassed even Youxia in exaggeration. After showcasing a mule car in October, the Internet company announced on August 10 that it is planning to build a plant in Zhejiang province.

But it’s time these entrepreneurs start delivering, as many are getting frustrated by the “propensity of these entrepreneurs to talk big and deliver very little,” the report says.

Limited two-year lease program from Tesla

Meanwhile Tesla is continuing its expansion efforts. Tesla’s lease option had a three-year commitment, which required a small down payment and monthly payments starting at just around $600 for its Model S 60 kWh car. Now if three years is too much time for you, the automaker is offering potential purchasers a two-year agreement.

Of course buyers will have to pay more down payments for a shorter period. Also you should make up your mind sooner rather than later as this two-year lease is just a temporary addition.

“A 2-year lease option is one of our most popular requests. We listened and are launching a limited time test of a 2-year lease on Model S and Model X,” Tesla said in a statement.

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