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Tesla Is 'In Talks' To Build a Factory In China (qz.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the local-markets dept.

Tesla confirmed yesterday that it is "in talks" with the municipal government of Shanghai to manufacture its vehicles in the country. Tesla said in a statement: "Tesla is working with the Shanghai Municipal Government to explore the possibility of establishing a manufacturing facility in the region to serve the Chinese market. As we've said before, we expect to more clearly define our plans for production in China by the end of the year. Tesla is deeply committed to the Chinese market, and we continue to evaluate potential manufacturing sites around the globe to serve the local markets. While we expect most of our production to remain in the U.S., we do need to establish local factories to ensure affordability for the markets they serve." Quartz reports: The announcement follows more than a year of speculation that the electric-vehicle maker would set up shop in China, and confirms that Tesla is altering its China strategy away from merely exporting vehicles in order to reach more Chinese consumers. Earlier this year, Musk made a stealth visit to China to visit Wang Yang, one of the nation's highest-ranking officials, to discuss Tesla's plans. Tesla has been selling vehicles in China since 2014, but to date, its share of the electric vehicle market remains marginal, at just 2% as of June 2016, according to trade blog CleanTechnica. There are several reasons for this, one of which is price. Tesla currently exports its vehicles to China, and the government places an import tax of 50% on Tesla cars. The sticker price for the most simple Model S in China is $104,972, compared to $69,500 in the US.

55 comments

  1. What an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Chinese will steal them blind.

    1. Re: What an idiot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      None of TESLAs vehicle processes are proprietary... all those patents are free to use. Battery chemistry is and those are made in Nevada.

    2. Re: What an idiot... by dougdonovan · · Score: 1

      elon can afford the trump tax.

  2. Dear Tesla by Snotnose · · Score: 4, Informative

    Bad Idea. They will build a factory, steal your secrets, then build several more factories using your secrets.

    Honestly, after the last 20 years how can anyone think China won't steal your secrets and sell them on the cheap?

    1. Re:Dear Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Tesla sees the writing on the wall, they need to export from China like Ford, Volvo, GM, etc. or else they will not be competitive.

    2. Re: Dear Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All Tessa's auto patents are free for anyone to use, have been for years.

    3. Re: Dear Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wrong. Cars built in China would be for the Chinese market. Sourcing them there avoids a twenty five percent tariff on imported cars. You are wrong.

    4. Re:Dear Tesla by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Bad Idea. They will build a factory, steal your secrets

      What secrets? Tesla has already opened all their patents for anyone to use.

      Elon already has his billions. He is more interested in changing the world than in increasing his pile.

    5. Re:Dear Tesla by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

      They will build a factory, steal your secrets, then build several more factories using your secrets.

      Maybe that's the point.

      --
      Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    6. Re:Dear Tesla by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      Like they did with Apple?

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    7. Re: Dear Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://jalopnik.com/the-next-ford-focus-will-be-imported-from-china-instead-1796256049

    8. Re: Dear Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is not srave. Is cheep rabor! Chinee sooo efficient.

    9. Re:Dear Tesla by SvnLyrBrto · · Score: 1

      Yes. Exactly like they did with Apple:

      http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...

      --
      Imagine all the people...
    10. Re:Dear Tesla by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      Horseshoe ...

      From TFA via your link:

      The exception: BirdAbroad did think the products looked genuine

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    11. Re:Dear Tesla by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 1

      Tesla sees the writing on the wall, they need to export from China like Ford, Volvo, GM, etc. or else they will not be competitive.

      To reciprocate the Chinese policy, the US ought to be placing a 50% import tariff on those Fords, Volvos and GMs imported from China. Then manufacturers can be competitive manufacturing cars in the US.

    12. Re:Dear Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      secrets have never worked.

    13. Re:Dear Tesla by Altanar · · Score: 2

      All of their patents are open, sure. That's not stopping them from having trade secrets that they haven't patented.

    14. Re:Dear Tesla by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Bad Idea. They will build a factory, steal your secrets, then build several more factories using your secrets.

      Honestly, after the last 20 years how can anyone think China won't steal your secrets and sell them on the cheap?

      Because there are few secrets left to steal? China does a lot of it's own R&D. Telsa may be a darling for green energy in the USA, but the worlds largest electric car manufacturer.... BYD in China who have been at it for as long as Tesla have and outsell Tesla. There's nothing magical about Tesla that you can't reverse engineering by buying a car and taking it apart.

      Building a factory there is quite low-risk compared to actual technology companies. Now if SpaceX were building a factory in China, then we'd have a different argument, not the least of which being export laws.

    15. Re:Dear Tesla by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      It's that why no one buys iPhones any more, and the market has been saturated with cheaper knock offs? Silly Apple, building their phones in China.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    16. Re: Dear Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean, you can buy stuff for a higher price, because there is now an artificial barrier to "protect" the local market? Yeah good luck earning more dollars, cus shit will not be pricey

    17. Re: Dear Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      TESLA is not FORD. fukwit.

    18. Re:Dear Tesla by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      It is the neuter of he (and him). You wouldn't put an apostrophe in his, would you?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    19. Re:Dear Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rather, after the last 20 years, how can anyone think you can keep a secret from China and they won't develop their own?

      See how well stopping China from joining the ISS 20 years ago went? China now have its own space station, and soon it will be the only one still flying.

      Tesla's choice is to follow Apple's example, to build a factory and establish their brand in China while they still can, OR follow Google's example, give the market to local Chinese companies, watch them grow and develop, and in 10 years time come out of China to compete with Tesla in the rest of the world.

    20. Re:Dear Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's racist and xenophobic when Americans do it.

    21. Re:Dear Tesla by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      Maybe I would. You dont know my lif'e.

    22. Re:Dear Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Looked genuine" is not the same thing as "is genuine". These fake Apple Stores have been around in china since Steve Jobs was still alive. Do you really think that Apple, and especially Apple under Jobs, was providing inventory to stores that were totally fraudulent?

  3. Lots of Tesla's there by TheSync · · Score: 1

    I was surprised by the number of Teslas I saw on the Shanghai highways the last time I was there!

    1. Re:Lots of Tesla's there by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      China is adopting green energy quite rapidly, but it's not Teslas that's amazing in China. It's BYD. Those EVs are everywhere you look.

    2. Re:Lots of Tesla's there by haruchai · · Score: 1

      I'm happier to hear about increasing numbers of electric buses.
      I'd buy an affordable EV but a single EV bus probably emits less than a diesel bus + 10 cars combined.
      Well, perhaps not everywhere in China with their huge (but declining) coal-fired electricity generation.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
  4. 50% import tax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Remember when the president said he was going to fix all our bad trade deals?

    1. Re:50% import tax by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      But this is bringing jobs back! Once all those Telsa's are made, everyone will want one so bad, they will be motivated to nnovate million dollar companies so they can afford an $80K vehicle. That's how some people say it works, so who am I to argue.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    2. Re:50% import tax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Why does Teslas need an apostrophe, but not jobs or companies?

    3. Re:50% import tax by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Because Teslas looks like a spanish bread name.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    4. Re:50% import tax by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      You do know that you don't need to be a millionaire to buy an $80,000 vehicle, right?

      More over, you know that Tesla is only a week or three away from launching the Model 3, which costs roughly half that, right?

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    5. Re:50% import tax by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

      Have they announced the price of the Model 3? I know it is projected to cost $30K.

      And I didn't say you needed to make a million dollars, I said you need to be taking a salary from a million dollar company. A lot of people buy cars they can't really afford, which I'm sure is the case with many Tesla owners.

      --
      Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
    6. Re:50% import tax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And who made you the king of financial rules that says people shouldn't (I assume that's what you meant) be spending more than 5% of monthly net income on a car? People can spend their money however the fuck they want to. Just like you can spend your money however the fuck you want to. The entire premise of your argument is based on this magic 5% number that you pulled straight from your ass.

      Also, in your mind, apparently it's impossible that anyone could ever save up a down payment, or have a trade in that substantially lowers the principal amount. But I guess by simplifying it, you could make the numbers look even bigger, and hopefully distract people from the bit where the entire foundation of your argument was shaky?

    7. Re:50% import tax by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Minor point: The starting price on the Model 3 will be $35k, There is currently a federal tax credit of $7500 that would reduce that price to $27,500, but after Tesla sells 200,000 vehicles in the US, the tax credit will phase out.

  5. Dear Snotnose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thank you for your kind letter. Unfortunately it got lost under piles of money and I can't remember what it said.
    XOXO Elon

    1. Re:Dear Snotnose by Snotnose · · Score: 1

      Dear AC. The piles of money they pay you will be nothing compared to the lost profits due to China stealing your secrets.

      Elon would post under his name, hence you must be Chinese.

    2. Re: Dear Snotnose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Elon is Chinese? Wow. Plastic surgery has come a long way.

    3. Re: Dear Snotnose by Chas · · Score: 1

      What? Didn't you see Goldeneye?

      --


      Chas - The one, the only.
      THANK GOD!!!
  6. Bye, Tesla by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Musk is welcome to leave and never ever come back.

    Musk go to China and fucking stay there.

  7. trump, Trump, TRUMP!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I just like the guy. Go TRUMP2020!!

  8. XEROX is to blame. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Pres RONALD REGAN ordered VP Patrick White to build three Xerox facilities in China to modernize their business interaction through paper products and China has been stealing and copying intellectual property ever since.

    Thid I learned from Mr. White himself in 2hours of interview infront a public payphone by Stater Brothers on Trabuco Canyon Road and El Toro Road on Orange County CALIF. Was just a surprise interaction that we talked that long, about 10 years ago.

  9. Bound to happen... by XSportSeeker · · Score: 1

    It surprises me that it took this long.
    Not only about the huge market that will be there, with China now leading Paris Agreement, Tesla absolutely can't afford not being there for all it's other related or non-related projects. Battery technology, solar power stuff...

  10. Makes sense ... by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    ... because capitalism.

    Republics, democracies, autocracies, dictatorships -- all replaced by capitalism.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    1. Re:Makes sense ... by zapadnik · · Score: 0

      Except that Tesla is not 'capitalist' (the Marxist term for the 'Free Market'). Tesla is an organization that exploits Government cronyism - where a company uses tax dollars taken at gunpoint by the Government. This is a logical thing for any company to attempt, and the solution is to remove power from the Government to rob citizens at gunpoint.

      Of course, the 'elites' that control the Government and profit massively from it would rather you blamed the corporations and left the Government to rib the citizens in peace. In fact, crushing the corporations gives the elites that run the Government even more power, since there will be no Free Market alternative to Government.

      'Smashing the Corporations' seems like a solution until you realise that the problem lies in the fact that Governments have way too much power over citizens. Shrink Government power and neither it nor the corporations can no longer use coercion to deal with you. The Government and corporations then need to persuade you to hand over your cash, rather than coerce you using the threat of force (the current system).

    2. Re:Makes sense ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remove power from the government to rob citizens.. why not, but I suppose you plan to let the lawyers and banks do as much or even more robbing as they do already?

      lol.
      What does even a honest, modest elderly landlord if not extract money by gun point?
      Should we remove the gun points that allow that elderly grandma to earn like $8K a year in rent minus property tax and expenses so that she can spend it on the doctors and cat food? (or even a fraction of the cost for nursing home). I think you wouldn't want to.

      Tesla does get big government bucks though. Er, SpaceX I meant, that line of work, space launches, is rather close or somewhat a part of weapons industries, what with Boeing, even the X-37B.
      But it's also part of "industrial policy".
      Let's say that I find Tesla to do some useful things at least, in particular the batteries.
      I won't be of much help to come up with something to end all government corruption. I believe government needs even more "guns" to achieve some aims, e.g. provide for a highly staffed judiciary, stringent rules on campaign contributions, or even do something about Google, Apple et al. stashing zillions in the Bahamas.

      For a weak government is a corruptible government - a simple example would be, would you rather pay a cop $15K a year or $50K a year, times a thousand cops. The $15K cops might be spending all their times doing speed traps, "seizing" drugs (but only very selectively arresting people, such as the child of a political opponent running for mayor, whatever) and doing unsavory things.

      Now I'm beginning to understand the US perspective about big bad government a bit better though. Perhaps it's both big, huge, and weak due to such things as congressmen-for-hire and other.
      One problem is the need for independent media : government meddling is usually the last thing we want (yet public broadcasting has its uses too).. except I could see a rule like, someone - physical or corporation - can't own more than three newspapers or magazines and more than four TV channels (or more than one continuous TV news channel..). Such numbers I put there for discussion.
      This I think would be an example of strong rule of law yet giving more independent government, more independent corporations and better freedom of press.

  11. Ecars are cheap in China... check out Ali by wolfheart111 · · Score: 1

    China SUV electric car with big space low price high quality US $6650.00 / Unit MOQ: 2 Units https://wholesaler.alibaba.com...

    --
    [($)]
    1. Re:Ecars are cheap in China... check out Ali by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      How can you not be more interested in YN-CART105 with smooth and elegant lines

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  12. Wang Yang by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LOL

  13. This is the same American conglomerate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that approves of spying and sabotage of foreign networks, and happily helps out launching satellites into space to assist this work, and who will eventually happily launch weaponized satellites into space. China may want to consider their proposal carefully.

  14. copying since Mao by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Communist China has been reverse engineering, at least since the Soviet Union didn't provide all the information on the mig-21, back around 1960. You'd think Western companies would be smarter.

  15. Waiting on North Korea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Trump was hoping for China to take action to make NK give up its nukes. It doesn't seem to be working.