Chinese car buyers interested in purchasing a Tesla are about to catch a break on the vehicle’s sticker price.
China’s Ministry of Finance said Friday that it is suspending additional tariffs on Tesla’s Model X and Model S, in addition to other cars imported from United States, for three months, starting Jan. 1. The move cuts the tariffs applied to U.S. cars to 15 percent from 40 percent.
A Tesla spokesperson confirmed that the company also cut the prices of its Model X and Model S cars following China’s tariff reduction.
According to Tesla’s Chinese website, the price of a Model S, depending on the car’s configuration, has been cut by the equivalent of $15,200, while the Model X sticker price has been reduced by about $9,400.
The temporary tariff reduction comes as part of a 90-day cooling off period between the U.S. and China as the two nations continue to work on measures to avoid an escalating trade war. President Donald Trump had threatened to place an extra tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods imported from China as part of an effort to get Beijing to crack down on intellectual-property theft of U.S. technology as open its markets to more U.S.-made goods.
