Electric car maker Tesla to offer guaranteed secondhand price to Hong Kong owners of some models

Electric car maker Tesla Motors has extended its resale value guarantee financing scheme to Hong Kong, allowing drivers to sell their cars back to the firm at a guaranteed price.

Owners of the 70 kWh Model S electric sedan will be given the option to sell their cars back to Tesla between 36 and 37 months after purchase for 75 per cent of the base price, and 65 per cent of the cost of any additional options. 

The California-based company opened the resale value guarantee financing programme to customers in the United States in 2013 and expanded it to Europe, Australia and Japan in March.

“The new RVG program is demonstrating Tesla’s continuing commitment to our customers, and its offer of a guaranteed resale value will give Model S owners greater confidence in their purchase,” said Isabel Fan, country director for Tesla in Hong Kong.

The scheme is open to those who bought their cars through a Tesla-agreed lease or hire purchase programme. Tesla said the resale prices in Hong Kong are some of the highest offered by the company.

The programme allows Tesla to generate further revenue when it sells used cars and allows the carmaker greater control over the price of its secondhand cars, according to Bloomberg.

A Tesla Model S 70D car sells for HK$619,000, or HK$9,977 a month through the finance package offered by Tesla.

In a bid to boost the adoption of electric vehicles, the Hong Kong government has waived the first registration tax for electric vehicles until the end of March 2017.

Tesla has faced lower than expected demand in China, which founder Elon Musk said was due to speculators placing orders but cancelling when the vehicles arrived. It is estimated 1,600 vehicles imported to China have not been licensed.

"China is the only place on earth where we have excess inventory. We are essentially selling cars that speculators ordered but we were unable to deliver," Musk said in March at the Boao Forum.