Tesla Motors Inc's Elon Musk said sales of electric Model S cars in China should match US levels as early as next year, with demand from the world's largest auto market eventually requiring a local plant.

The electric-car maker said the Model S will be priced from 734,000 yuan ($121,280) in China when deliveries begin. Musk, Tesla's billionaire co-founder and chief executive officer, will travel to China in late March to inaugurate the company's entry, he said in a phone interview.

Musk said: "It could be as big as the US market, maybe bigger. I don't want to get overexcited about it. Even without building there locally, it's always going to be the second-biggest market after the US."