Tesla (TSLA), Others to Benefit as China Drop 10% Purchase Tax

Tesla Motors (Nasdaq: TSLA) is on watch Thursday following news that China is making a strong push for consumers to move toward "new-energy" autos, China's term for electric vehicles, hybrids, and fuel cell-powered cars.

According to Bloomberg, citing a State Council meeting in China on Wednesday, the country will waive a 10 percent purchase tax on the new-energy vehicles. The levy will be excluded starting on September 1st and run through the end of 2017.

The exemption also applies to imported EVs, like those from Tesla, Volkswagen, and BMW.

Despite offering subsidies as high as $18,400, only about 70,000 new-energy vehicles are on the road in China five years after the program began, completely missing the government's goal of having 500,000 units of the vehicles on the road.

Shares of Tesla are lower in early trading.

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