The Best Way to Boost Electric Cars in China
Tesla may have unintentionally stumbled upon a cheaper and more effective strategy to promote new-energy vehicles over gas guzzlers.
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Photographer: Greg Baker/AFP/Getty Images
In China, the most talked-about and coveted feature associated with Tesla Inc.'s new China-made Model 3 electric vehicle isn't the car’s high performance, sleek design or semi-autonomous capability. It’s the license plate -- which should tell advocates hoping to move the world’s drivers off fossil fuels something.
The recent buzz is the result of a misunderstanding. A social media post from Tesla last week appeared to offer buyers in Beijing the chance to get a license plate as part of a Model 3 financing package. The company updated its post a day later to clarify that it doesn’t obtain or lease car plates in China. Regardless, the ostensible promotion quickly became a hot topic online and in the mainstream media.