Tesla Giga Shanghai only produces Model 3 and Model Y for local and export markets. The two larger electric vehicles in its lineup went on sale in the country a long time ago, but the Plaid version has yet to appear.
Elon Musk once promised that the Model S Plaid would be available from March this year in the Chinese market, but now it’s October. However, Chinese customers can now rejoice, the Tesla Plaid – both the Model S and the Model X – is finally here.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) publishes a list of all-electric vehicles eligible for sales tax exemption. And interestingly, the Model S and Model X are included in it for the first time. The list includes basic specifications of electric vehicles such as battery capacity, dimensions, weight and range.
In the MIIT listing, the Model S has two different ranges – 715km and 672km, Tesla’s official website cites 652km for the long-range Model S and 637km for the Plaid version.
The same goes for the Model X – the official Chinese CLTC ranges are 700km and 664km, but Tesla’s own figures are 560km for the long-range model and 536km for the Plaid.
That’s a huge difference and just shows CLTC testing is far, far away from real-life numbers. The official figures quoted by the manufacturer are almost never realistic, although some are close, but when there is a difference of more than 100 km between the official government-supported figures and those quoted by the manufacturer – you know this is not true.
After a very long wait, Chinese customers will finally get their hands on the Plaid version of the Tesla. In fact, the first sighting of the Model S Plaid has been confirmed in China with one of the bloggers posting the photo on Weibo. Good times await Chinese car enthusiasts and also good times for Tesla.
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