Tesla Challenger in China Prepares to Debut $106,000 E-Roadster

Among China’s biggest domestic vehicle design firms is starting to produce its own electric roadster, seeking to stick out from the gaggle of Chinese electrical automobile startups, in addition to Tesla Motors Inc., by making a car with products discovered more frequently in business jets and mega-yachts.

Qiantu Motor, established by car design firm Beijing CH-Auto Technology Co., is presently developing a factory in the eastern city of Suzhou to produce the electrical car with a carbon-fiber body and aluminum frame, Chairman Lu Qun stated in an interview. The sports car, K50, is set to debut next year with a rate of around 700,000 yuan ($106,000), he stated, similar to Tesla’s Model S, which is made from aluminum. The cost is about a third of the BMW i8, which likewise features a light-weight carbon-fiber body that enchances performance.

“We are discovering from Tesla in addition to all the other electrical carmakers,” stated Lu, 48, a former Jeep engineer who left Beijing Jeep Corp. in 2003 with some colleagues to begin Beijing CH-Auto. “We are focusing on constructing high-performance vehicles, and there’s no other choice but to build our own factory, due to the fact that there isn’t really a plant in China that has a carbon-fiber molding workshop.”

Tesla sold 3,025 Model S and Model X automobiles in China in the very first three quarters of 2015.