Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he is confident that their China operations can be at par with that of U.S. (Photo : Reuters)
Tesla Motors Inc., which is set to launch its production in China, has posted its strongest electronic vehicle sales this year after it sold around 1,500 units for the quarter ended September.
Tesla reached 1,345 sales performance for the third quarter, a jump from the first and second quarters' 797 and 883 units, respectively.
Gary Tao, the firm's Beijing-based spokesman, said that for the first nine months, Tesla sold a total of 3,025 vehicles.
Meanwhile, in a Beijing trip last week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed the firm's plans to boost its sales and production. He said that the local output they are launching will help the company slash its vehicle prices by a third.
According to Tesla's transcripts of Musk's remarks, their officials' negotiations on its Chinese production have been quite encouraging, and the firm will likely team up with a local partner.
Apart from that, Musk said that Tesla is also partnering with Chinese Internet giant Baidu Inc. on GPS navigation and automated driving.
In China, foreign firms are required to have a joint venture with a Chinese firm before they can produce cars domestically.
In an interview with the state-run Xinhua News Agency, Musk is positive that Tesla's annual sales in China can match that of the U.S. in around five to six years.
For the third quarter, China accounted for 11 percent of the firm's global deliveries.
Tesla has struggled with weak sales in the country, causing it to trim down its number of employees this year. Local media reports said that the company laid of 30 percent of its Chinese payroll.
