Elon Musk’s electric automobile maker Tesla has been granted tax exemptions from China just days after the tech mogul was praised by Beijing for saying that Taiwan should turn out to be a “special administrative zone” ruled by the Chinese Communist Party.
The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology unveiled its latest list of electrical vehicles which are eligible for purchase tax exemption.
The list includes the most recent Tesla Model S and Model X units with 100 kWh battery packs, based on the Teslarati news site. The location reported that two Model S variants — the MSP2P and the MSP2LR — in addition to the Model X variants MXP2P and MXP2LR were on the list of exempt vehicles.
Their inclusion on the list suggests that Tesla could soon begin delivering the cars to China soon, based on Teslarati.
Last Friday, Musk generated headlines and controversy after he told Financial Times that he thought Taiwan, the self-ruling island and US ally which China sees as an element of its country, should cede control to Beijing to avoid a broader conflict that might have global economic ramifications.
“My advice…can be to determine a special administrative zone for Taiwan that within reason palatable, probably won’t make everyone blissful,” Musk said in an interview with Financial Times published Friday.
“And it’s possible, and I believe probably, in reality, that they might have an arrangement that’s more lenient than Hong Kong,” Musk added.
Musk predicted that a military conflict between China and Taiwan would likely slash the worldwide economy by 30%.
He noted that Tesla and other major firms with supply chains running through the region can be severely impacted and declared that “Apple can be in very deep trouble.”
The comments by Musk drew the ire of Taiwanese officials while prompting praise from China.
Musk’s cozy relationship with the Chinese government has long sparked concerns on Capitol Hill, with some lawmakers questioning whether the billionaire’s dealing are a possible security risk given his firm SpaceX’s role as a federal government contractor.
Musk’s foray into armchair diplomacy also raised hackles amongst Ukrainian officials, particularly after the mogul urged Ukraine to cede control of Crimea to Russia as a part of a compromise peace proposal that might end the war.
Kyiv’s ambassador to Germany told the SpaceX boss whose company has provided Starlink satellites which have beamed web access into Ukraine to “f–k off” in response to his Crimea proposals.
Unlike conventional automobile manufacturers, Tesla doesn’t wait for model-year updates. As a substitute, the corporate does so-called “design refresh” on vehicles every time it has changes available to implement.
Last yr, Tesla halted production of Model S and Model X cars for its most important revamp to this point, based on Electrek.
The revamp forced the corporate to pause deliveries of Model X for nearly a yr, based on Electrek.
But that now appears to be changing as Tesla has ramped up production. Because the refresh, no markets outside of North America have received the brand new Model S and Model X orders.
Deliveries of the vehicles to customers in Europe are expected by the top of the yr.
Additional reporting by Thomas Barrabi