Tesla wishes to make it big in the Chinese electric car market, but several local manufacturers in the country are already making it difficult for the U.S. firm to accomplish its goals in China. Now it’s going to get even more difficult for Tesla as German luxury automobile maker Audi has some big plans.
Audi has big plans for China
Audi plans to produce five new electric vehicles for the Chinese market in the next five years, notes Teslarati. The first will be the A6L e-tron sedan. The L in the vehicle’s name denotes the car’s long wheelbase version.
Chinese customers pay a lot of importance to rear seat roominess, and the high demand for it led manufacturers to add stretched variants to their regular models to attract Chinese customers, notes Teslarati. Audi will manufacture the cars in China with help from local partner FAW Automotive Group.
It is expected that the Q7 e-tron SUV will go on sale in China next year. Rather than manufacturing it within the country, Audi will import it, notes Teslarati. According to the German company, it plan to bring another electric car to the Chinese market with more than 300 miles of range in the near future. Later this year, the Audi Quattro e-tron will be released in Germany.
Last year, more than 300,000 electric cars were sold in China, making it the largest market for electric vehicles in the world. Generous government subsidies of up to $16,000 per car offer huge help to raise EV sales. In the coming few years, the subsidies will be scaled back, but they are still higher than those offered in other countries.
Tesla opening a store in the UAE
China could get tougher for Tesla, but the U.S.-based firm is exploring another region. Tesla believes that the UAE is an ideal place for it to expand, as people there can easily afford high-priced Tesla EVs. Also the UAE’s leadership is well aware of the fact that though it has huge reserves of oil and gas that help it make huge money, the future is clean tech, notes CleanTechnica. So to tap the potential there, the EV firm is planning to open a store (or maybe stores) in the region.
“I received word today from a few people here in the UAE* that Tesla is going to open a store in the UAE next month,” says CleanTechnica.
