Well, here’s where we are folks.
If you can afford a multi-million dollar luxury flat in Hong Kong’s, frankly, insane property market, you might just get a free Tesla.
Hong Kong property developer K&K Property is offering five of the popular electric cars to the first people who sign up to buy four-bedroom flats at its Victoria Skye development on the site of the city’s former airport.
According to the SCMP, the 1,270 square metre units, which will be sold via a bidding process, could set buyers back at least HK$38 million (US$4.9 million) for some 1,270 square meters of space.
Those first in the door can get either the Tesla vouchers worth some HK$620,900 (about US$79,000) — the starting price of a Tesla Model S — or HK$500,000 cash back, according to The Standard.
It’s definitely a pricy route to a fashionable car.
A K&K Property spokesperson told the SCMP that the development — which has 143 parking lots equipped with electric car chargers — was aimed at buyers of a “younger generation”.
“Having a Tesla car is cool in Hong Kong and this will draw buyer attention,” they told the newspaper.
Having an electric car or EV might be cool in Hong Kong, but it certainly became pricier this year, when the government scrapped the registration tax waiver for the vehicles in April.
The SCMP in June reported the decision had immediately halted sales of EVs in the city which, up to that point, had a total of 10,589 registered.
The waiver was originally introduced as a measure to cut air pollution, though supporters of its scrapping pointed the fact that EVs also added to congestion on Hong Kong’s roads.
As well as clogging the streets, the growth in private car ownership has seen the cost of car parking spaces skyrocket, with spaces regularly changing hands for millions of dollars.
In June, a 88-square-foot space in Sai Ying Pun set a record when it sold for HK$5.18 million (US$663,000).
Another record (sigh) for a city, which boasts the priciest per-square meter address in Asia following the recent sale of two luxury flats at the Mount Nicholson development on The Peak for a combined HK$1.16 billion (US$149 million).
