Tesla officially announced its plan to build a factory in Shanghai

Electric car manufacturer Tesla's plan to build a factory in China has finally been confirmed. At the Tesla shareholders meeting held on the 5th, Tesla's global sales director Robin Ren revealed that the company plans to build its first factory outside the United States in Shanghai, and said that a more detailed factory construction plan will be announced in the future.

Unlike Tesla's factories in the United States, the factory to be built in Shanghai will include both battery production and vehicle assembly.

In early May, Tesla registered a new company in Shanghai, which was widely interpreted by the outside world as a prelude to Tesla's upcoming localization. Earlier this month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk thanked the Chinese government for reducing import tariffs on automotive products during a financial report conference call. Also during the conference call, Musk revealed that the location of the battery factory in China will be announced as early as next quarter.

Later, Musk praised this move on his personal Twitter. Currently, Tesla electric vehicles sold to the Chinese market mainly face 25% import tariffs, value-added tax and transportation and handling fees. Reducing automobile tariffs will directly benefit the sales of Tesla electric vehicles in the Chinese market.

The Chinese market is a huge lure for Tesla, and it is currently Tesla's largest market outside the U.S. In 2017, Tesla's sales in China were $2.027 billion, an increase of more than 90% over 2016, accounting for nearly 20% of its total sales that year.

Musk has publicly expressed a strong interest in investing and building factories in China, and said that if local production can be carried out, tariffs can be avoided and transportation costs can be reduced, the price of Tesla electric vehicles in China can be reduced by one third.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.