(Yicai) Sept. 1 -- US electric carmaker Tesla has begun advance sales of a longer-driving range Model 3 in the Chinese mainland following the vehicle’s first major refresh since launching in 2017.

The new Model 3 comes in a long-range and standard edition, priced at CNY295,900 and CNY259,900 (USD40,734 and USD35,778), respectively, according to Tesla's Chinese website. Deliveries will start next quarter.

The standard version’s price is CNY28,000 (USD3,854) higher than the original model and above market expectations of CNY200,000. Buyers of the old Model 3 can also receive a CNY8,000 (USD1,100) car insurance subsidy, making the new model even more expensive.

The refreshed Model 3 has a range of 606 kilometers, compared with 556 km for the old model, but its maximum speed has dropped to 200 kilometers per hour from 225 km/h.

The price of the new Model 3 is much higher than the market had anticipated, likely because there are still old models in stock, and the production costs of the refreshed version were high during its initial launch phase before achieving a maximum scale effect, according to an industry insider.

In the middle of last month, Yicai learned from a Tesla store that the firm's outlets had begun to accept advance orders for the refreshed Model 3, with shipments expected to start next month.

Editors: Liao Shumin, Martin Kadiev