Tesla said on Friday that the Model 3 cars produced in China will be delivered to employees starting on December 30, according to Bloomberg.
The first deliveries are 15 Model 3 sedans.
Tesla shares edge up 1 percent in pre-market trading.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has predicted Tesla will make at least 1,000 cars a week in Shanghai by the end of the year — a volume the company’s original factory in California spent months trying to hit — and has said a weekly rate of 3,000 is a target at some point.
Earlier today, the China-built Model 3 was included on a list of vehicles qualifying for an exemption from a 10% purchase tax in the country. Tesla said in October the locally built Model 3 will be priced from about $50,000. Further helping Tesla, the China-built model this month qualified for a government subsidy of as much as about 25,000 yuan ($3,600) per vehicle.
The company may lower the price of the locally-assembled sedans by 20% or more next year as it starts using more local components and reduces costs, people familiar with the matter have said.
Tesla completed building the first V3 Superchargers in Shanghai on Friday and opened it to the public, marking the official entry of the Superchargers in the Chinese market which is also Asia’s first V3 Superchargers.
