It's official. On Monday, Tesla (TSLA +0.94%) announced that it has started selling domestically-made Model Y's in China. The company released a comment on Twitter saying simply "Model Y deliveries in China have officially begun."
Tesla broke ground on its Shanghai manufacturing plant two years ago, and the company delivered the first Model 3 sedans from the factory a little over one year ago. As the company expands its offerings from the facility, competing Chinese electric-vehicle (EV) makers have also been enlarging product portfolios. NIO (NIO 1.08%) just unveiled its first luxury sedan at its "NIO Day" event earlier this month.
Tesla Model Y mid-size SUV. Image source: Tesla.
NIO's ET7 will directly compete with Tesla's Model S luxury sedan when it becomes available early next year, while Tesla's Model Y will compete with NIO's SUV products. But the Model S isn't made at the Chinese factory. The plant will ultimately have a production capacity of 500,000 vehicles annually.
Tesla sold 138,000 Model 3 sedans in China in 2020, representing a little over 12% of all EV's sold in the country, according to The Wall Street Journal. Automakers expect that to grow quickly, as the Chinese government wants to almost quintuple EV sales by 2025.
Tesla offers three models of its Model Y in the U.S. However, the standard range basic model will not be offered from the Shanghai plant. The Chinese-made long range model will sell for $52,425 and performance models will be priced at $57,050, according to reports.
