U.S. electric car maker Tesla will stop selling the cheapest versions of its Model S sedans and Model X SUVs beginning Monday, its CEO Elon Musk tweeted late Wednesday.
“Starting on Monday, Tesla will no longer be taking orders for the 75 kWh version of the Model S & X. If you’d like that version, please order by Sunday night …” he said in the tweet.
The two versions of the Tesla vehicles are equipped with 75-kw-hour (kWh) battery packs, which offer a range of 259 miles (about 416.8 km) for the Model S, and 237 miles (about 381.4 km) for the Model X.
The 75-kWh versions of Model S and X are priced from 76,000 U.S. dollars and 82,000 dollars respectively. The next cheapest versions of Model S and X will be equipped with 100-kWh battery packs that provide a longer driving range, with market prices starting from 94,000 dollars and 96,000 dollars respectively.
While Tesla is ramping up production of its popular Model 3 sedans at home, Musk is eyeing China, the world’s second-largest economy, as a more promising market for the company’s electric vehicles.
On Monday, Musk attended a ground-breaking event for his Shanghai factory, Tesla’s first plant outside the United States, which is located in the Lingang area, a high-end manufacturing park in the city. It has an annual capacity of 500,000 electric cars.
The Shanghai factory is also the first U.S. plant that benefits from a new policy by China that allows foreign carmakers to set up wholly-owned subsidiaries in the world’s most populous country.