Tesla Sales in Hong Kong Vanish as Tax Waiver Ends

Demand last year for Tesla electric cars in Hong Kong plunged from 2,900 units in March to only 32 for the remainder of 2017 when a government tax waiver ended.

The end of the tax break in April nearly doubled the price of an imported Tesla Model S 75D sedan to slightly more than HK$1 million ($131,700), the Financial Times reports.

Supported by the tax waiver, Tesla sold 2,800 cars in Hong Kong in 2016. Buyers scrambling to cash in before the discount expired in April caused Tesla sales to triple from January to February, then jump fivefold from February to March. Demand has all but vanished since then.

Pundits tell FT that killing the tax discount makes it unlikely the Hong Kong government will achieve its goal of electrifying 30% of privately owned cars on the road by 2020. Last year, that ratio climbed to only 2%.

News about the environmental impact of charging EVs in Hong Kong hasn’t helped. An analysis by Bernstein revealed last April says the island’s low-tech electrical generation system is so dirty that a Tesla EV would generate 20% more carbon dioxide over its lifetime than a comparable gasoline-fueled car.​​​​​​