Made-in-China Tesla Model 3 is now being listed on Tesla website

Tesla completed production of their Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai 8 months ago; and in it, completed production of the first Model 3 body-in-white just 2 weeks ago.

The company assigned the date for the start of production to be the 14th October, but since more “governmental requirements” need to be met, there’s been a slight delay.

Tesla did confirm that trial production has started, though; and photos of the vehicles being manufactured, as well as independent sightings of a Model 3 being tested on the tracks of the Gigafactory 3 all but confirm this.

Despite a still undetermined delivery date; Tesla just updated its Model 3 online configurator for the Chinese market to list the Made-in-China Model 3 Standard Range Plus with Autopilot.

To announce this, Tesla shared the following image on the Chinese social media network, Weibo:

Customers are also advised that availability is subject to regulatory approval, and are informed that delivery won’t be until the beginning of next year.  The estimated date also likely takes into account the delivery time for existing reservations of the non-Autopilot version, which have been building up over the last 6 months.

The Chinese Model 3 comes in at ¥355,800, or $50,000; which actually makes it only a 3% difference to what those are paying for the US-imported Model 3’s.  Electric vehicle incentives will also further reduce costs.

Once said “governmental requirements” are met, Tesla aims to steadily increase production from 1,000 units a week this year to 3,000 per week next year.

Source: electrek