Too early to predict Tesla, electric car popularity

It would be easy for Geely to produce Tesla-like vehicles as long as electric cars are widely accepted by the mass market, said Li Shufu, chairman of domestic automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Tuesday.

It would take "10 years" or "1 million kilometers [of driving]" to judge whether a vehicle is good or not, thus it is too early to comment on Tesla's market performance at present, Li said at a press event in Tianjin Sunday.

The breakthrough of the electric vehicle (EV) sector depends on the development of the battery technology, and "the arrival of Tesla does not necessarily mean the arrival of an EV era," iceo.com.cn, news portal under Beijing-based magazine China Entrepreneur reported Tuesday citing Li.

Li also said that prices of Tesla vehicles are too high for ordinary consumers at present. "Most consumers would not choose Tesla as their first cars. Maybe the brand will be more accepted by consumers when it produces cheaper models in the future," Li said.

The premium US electric car producer announced a soft opening of its Beijing outlet on November 2 - the largest Tesla store in the world. Pre-orders already started in August, requiring a deposit of 250,000 yuan ($41,050). So far there is still no official data on the pre-order numbers.

Tesla's popular Model S is priced from $62,400 to $82,400 in the US. Though Tesla said that it would not mark up the prices of its products too much in China, some analysts predicted that the price of the Tesla vehicle could surpass 1 million yuan in China - taking into consideration the tariffs and taxes.

Media reports in May said that Geely was also planning to build a new electric car brand.

Volvo, the Swedish automaker that was acquired by Geely in 2010, also rolled out hybrid and electric car models at an auto show in Beijing last month.